FF7 The Online Game
by Pyrobee
Summary: A high school student gets a cool new game called FF7. It's fun up until he meets this crazy gamer who's killing off all FF7 players. Now that he must fight for his life and the lives of his friends, it's not so fun anymore. Cleris.
1. Chance Meeting

_A/N: I got fed up with waiting for good Cleris fanfics to show up so I obviously started my own. This is a response to the challenge in Ghost in the Mirror's profile. Hope you like it! I also hope some of you Cleris/Clerith fans respond to the challenge as well so I'll have something to read!_

**Chapter One**

Brandon swatted Garret's hand away from the keyboard and slid a disk in. FF7 popped up on the screen. "You're right," Brand told Garret and added, "for once. This game looks pretty neat."

"Damn straight," Garret said. "Look me up on there. I call myself Barret."

"Clever," Brand snorted.

"Hey, shut your mouth," Garret shouted, punching his friend on the shoulder. "Jus' play the damn game."

"What should I could myself?" Brand asked, looking outside. It was stormy out, just the way he liked it.

"What about Skylar?" Garret suggested. "You're always lookin' up at the stupid sky."

"No, that's a girl's name," Brand replied. "How about…Cloud."

"And that's not?" Garret shot back. "Suit yourself."

Cloud logged into the game Final Fantasy, made a new, personalized character, and started a new game. He played for hours, and Garret was long gone before he decided it was about time to quit- for the night. He'd already leveled up his character several times. It was dark out, and the thunder was bad. Just before he was about to log off, a message appeared on his screen. It was from some player named Aeris

"Hi. Are you new to the game?"

Brand paused and scratched his head. He was back to being Cloud again with a whole new personality. "Yeah," was all Cloud said.

"So am I," said Aeris.

"What's your point?" he typed back.

"Jeez," Aeris replied. "Touchy, aren't we? I just want to make a few friends. That's why I got this game, and I haven't made a single one."

"You bought an online fighting game to make friends?"

"What does sound a little strange now that I think about it," she typed back. "Hey, how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"That's cool. I'm sixteen."

Brandon flinched. _Oh, yeah, that's _really_ cool_, he thought sarcastically to himself. _She's older than me. _He disliked having older friends. It felt like a disadvantage. Then again, his mom did want him with an older girl who could take care of him. Wait, since when did he listen to his mom?

"What's your real name?" she typed when he didn't reply.

"What's with all the questions?" he asked.

"Oh, come on," she typed. "I'm just curious. I'm Laura, by the way."

"My name is Brandon," he replied, "and I have to go now."

The next day, Brand came upon Garret choking on crackers and his friend Tiffany hitting him on the back in his first period class, biology. Their teacher, the strict Ms. Tomb, was probably out giving someone a detention.

"Is there a particular reason you're eating crackers in biology class, Garret?" Brand asked when Garret could breathe.

"He was trying to see how many crackers he could stuff into his mouth," Tiffany said, rolling her eyes. "I heard you got FF7 from a certain braniac over here. How do you like it?"

"It's pretty cool," Brand said, shrugging. "You have it, too?"

"Yeah," Tiffany said. "I'm called Tifa. Garret burned me a copy, too."

Brand sighed. He had such imaginative friends.

"Class!" Ms. Tomb said immediately after the last bell rang. Brand jumped in his seat to Garret's right, who sat before Tiffany. She immediately had everyone else scrambling to their desks with their full attention on her. She was a thin, short woman with long gray hair pulled back in a bun and narrowed, black eyes behind her thick glasses. "We have a new student today. Her name is Lauren Matthews. I hope you will all welcome her with the kindness of young yet mature adults." She looked at them from over her glasses and smiled thinly at their chorused welcome. "Go sit down beside Tiffany Smith, please, dear."

Laura sat beside Tiffany, right behind Brandon. He tried not to stare. Was this Aeris, the girl from FF7? He had to know….

"Today we will be dissecting the rat!" Ms. Tomb said. "On to the lab. Each group can have five members but only one rat!"

Brandon turned around as everyone scrambled to get partners. Lauren smiled brightly at him. "Want to be our partner?" he asked.

"Yes, thanks," she said, still smiling.

"I'm Brandon, by the way," he said, putting a slight emphasis on his name and hoping to get a reaction. Tiffany watched curiously and Garret went to get another partner.

"As in Cloud?" Lauren asked, bringing a smirk to Brandon's face.

"So you're Aeris, then?" he asked.

"You two know each other?" Tiffany asked, not even noticing Garret come back to them with a boy named Red. He was Irish and it showed in his hair and eyes.

"We just met yesterday on FF7," Brand said.

"Bizarre," Tiffany said.

"Hey!" Garret shouted. "Can we get into the lab room? Ms. Tomb is givin' me the evil eye."

They suffered through rat dissection and finally reached the end of that day's lab. The teacher instructed them to stuff all the organs back in, wrap up the rat, and hand them back to her so they could await the next day's dissection. Just as Brandon was about to leave the room, Lauren stopped him. "Hey, get on FF7 at five tonight in the forest region, okay? I'll be at the gate."

Brand knew exactly where that was since he'd spent much time fighting monsters and other newbie fighters in that area. He agreed and went to math class with Garret.

"Hey, my dad bought me this new thing," Garret said, showing Brand a helmet inside his backpack. "You can use it in FF7. It makes it much more realistic."

"That sounds cool," Brandon said, making Garret hide it as the vice principle walked by them down the hallway.

"Yeah," Garret said. "I've been grounded so I can't use it yet, but I'll let you borrow it on one condition."

"What?" Brand asked suspiciously.

"There's this rumor goin' about that I've really wanted to check out," Garret said. "It's about some player. He's really powerful and has never been defeated. Plus, all the people he's defeated end up murdered!"

"What do you want me to do about it?" Brand asked.

"I'm gettin' to that so shut your mouth," Garret said heatedly. "I want you to find out more about him while I'm grounded. Weaknesses, strategy, hangout, anythin'. I plan on takin' him out when I get back on."

"Fine," Brand said. "What's his name?"

"Sephiroth."

_A/N: Any feedback, people? I love feedback. Anyways, I hope you liked it…no, loved it. Please review. Good or bad, I don't care. _


	2. No Sephiroth For You

_A/N: I just finished my first chapter and am typing out the second. It just shows you how much I care. And I love all of you reviewers! I feel so special...five reviews on the first story. So special, in fact, that I'll reply to you guys below..._

_Disclaimer: Sorry I forgot this. Ahem…would you be fooling around with fanfictions if you owned Final Fantasy Seven? If I owned it, Tifa'd be dead and Aeris and Cloud would still be having a drawn-out romance after all these years (I love those almost as much as I like medium speed romances). No, wait, Tifa'd be with Brother off of Final Fantasy 10. Hehehe._

**lilalou**: I hope they are original. We'll see. It really varies.

**Beeria**: Clerith rocks, I know. I couldn't help myself when I saw all of those plot suggestions. I've been wanting to write one of these fora long time. And thanks.

**Princess of the Knight**: Can do. I update frequently...sometimes.

**Zenithar**: Though I doubt you're going to continue reading my story, thanks for the review. I'm pretty much writing this for fun, though. And anyone who can come up with a better summary is welcome to send it to me.

**AerithRosey**: Oh yeah, I remember that episode. I'm glad you like it, and I hope you'll write a Clorith, too.

**Chapter Two**

Brandon logged on to FF7 and fully became Cloud when he pulled on the virtual reality helmet. It was three o'clock so he had a couple of hours to do Garret's favor. He went to the chat rooms and began asking around. When he even mentioned Sephiroth, however, every last person in the chat room would leave. How was he supposed to help when no one would help out? Maybe Lauren- _Aeris_, he reminded himself- would know.

After an hour of searching and a second hour of roaming the woods, Cloud returned to the gates. Aeris stood there, virtual and everything. She must've had a helmet, too. People without helmets couldn't smile when someone approached. She straightened out her pink dress, a far cry from her jeans and t-shirt from school, and stood to greet him. "You're late," she accused him.

"I was looking for something," he replied.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Have you ever heard of a player named Sephiroth?"

The smile immediately faded from her face. "Sephiroth?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"He's dangerous, Cloud," Aeris warned. "I wouldn't talk about him a lot. He might come after you."

"So you do know something?"

Aeris looked at the ground and suddenly up at him, as if she had an idea. "Cloud, do you want to be my bodyguard?"

"Bodyguard?" he asked.

She smiled again. "Yeah," she said. "If one player is a fighter and one is not, the fighter can become the non-fighter's bodyguard."

"Why would I do that?" he asked.

Aeris thought for a moment. "I don't have any gil- that's FF7 currency- or anything of value…" She brightened up again. "How about I go out on a date with you?"

Cloud blinked in surprise. "A date?"

"Yeah, you know," she said, grabbing his arm lightly. "A D-A-T-E."

Cloud sighed and shrugged. This girl was pretty stubborn.

"It's settled, then. Come on," she said. "We have to go register you as a bodyguard."

Tiffany pulled on her virtual reality helmet and logged in as the fighter Tifa. That was when she noticed a message in her inbox. She clicked on it and smirked when she saw a challenge. Some guy with a private account had challenged her to a fight. She immediately sent a reply to him. He was still online.

"Next week at the volcano area," the challenger replied.

Cloud sighed in annoyance. Becoming a bodyguard was long and tedious work. There were so many rules and status changes involved. Like, when they were together, he got a strength bonus. His defense skyrocketed, too. Plus, Aeris could now use the magic skill called "Cure". If she died in the game, however, his health was cut in half until she could get back on.

"Can I remove words from his use?" Aeris asked the guy who was helping them with the bodyguard issues.

"Some of his?" he asked. "Well, yeah. Only a couple, though."

"Can you remove the word 'Sephiroth'?" she asked.

Being a computer program, the guy just nodded and went to work typing at Cloud's FF7 files. Cloud ran up. "What?" he demanded.

"You can no longer say the word 'Sephiroth'," the program said.

"What do you mean I can't say –censored-?" Cloud demanded. He grabbed his throat when the word was replaced. "Huh? Aeris! G- Barret asked me to find out about him! It's not like I was going to fight him myself!"

"He'd find a way to fight you," Aeris said seriously, "whether you wanted to or not."

Cloud sighed. She was pretty clever.

"Now come on!" Aeris said. "I hear there's a carnival in town. We're not going as a date, though. I have something special planned."

Laura and Brandon went all around the carnival, riding the scariest, most thrilling rides the place could offer. Finally, Laura convinced him to ride on the Ferris wheel. As they were going up, Brandon took the time to study Laura. She was leaning over the bar before them and looking down, excited to be so high up. Her brown hair was in a braid, and her brilliant green eyes shone with her excitement. She looked very much like her character in the game.

Laura glanced over and smiled when she saw Brand looking at her. He, on the other hand, looked a bit different than his character. His blond hair was slightly spiked in places but was rather short. His blue eyes weren't as narrowed either. The rest of his body, though, was toned, just like in the game. She blushed when she realized she was thinking this and looked back at the carnival below them. They were pretty high up and could even see the lake where people were racing boats. Brand quickly looked away from the fraction of her face he could see and watched the races.

"Cl- Brandon?" Laura asked.

Brandon looked up and smiled slightly. "You can call me Cloud if you want," he said.

"What's this place like?" she asked.

Brandon tilted his head slightly. "It's not that exciting. The only interesting thing around here is this old, abandoned mansion," he said.

Laura smiled again. "Let's go check it out."

_A/N: So…does Tiffany die? Probably. I hate her in the game. Why? Just do. Anyways, please review. I really hope you liked it. _


	3. Vincent's Mansion Hideout

_A/N: Well, I'm not sure whether or not Tifa dies, but I'll sure as hell try and make it look good if she does. I love my reviews. Thanks, Princess of the Knight and lilalou, for sticking to my story. This is for you. _

**Princess of the Knight**: I don't mind Tifa that much…I just don't like her. It's probably because of Aeris. Ah well.

**lilalou**: No, I'm not making Tifa a total bitch. It _is_ too easy. I'm keeping the characters pretty similar to how they are in FF7.

**Chapter Three**

"This is the mansion?" Laura asked, tilting her head. They stood just outside the big building. There were broken windows, the roof was falling in, and the stairs had all but fallen apart.

"Yeah," Brandon replied. "It used to belong to an old, rich guy, but he died and left it to his son. The guy tried to sell it, I heard, but no one would take it because anyone who lived there ran away. They say it's haunted. Let's go back."

"Wait," Laura said. She was smiling. "Let's go inside."

"No way," Brandon said. She opened her mouth to argue, so he said, "We'll come back in the morning. Then we can check it out."

"There's no fun in that," she said. "Come on, bodyguard. Are you scared?"

"No," he said.

"It's settled, then," she replied, smiling. "Let's go inside."

The rusty hinges on the front door squeaked loudly when Laura pushed. They slipped in and looked around. Once-fancy paint chipped on the walls and the staircases, which probably were polished to perfection by a dozen butlers years ago, were now dusty and falling apart. Laura immediately started up the stairs, testing each one before putting weight on it. With an exasperated sigh, Brandon followed her. They ended up in a hallway with a ton of doors leading to different rooms. Laura looked thrilled. He could tell she was an adventurer at heart.

"Which one do we go in first?" Laura said, more to herself than Brandon.

"Let's check the right side first and then go to the left," Brand suggested.

Laura immediately went to the nearest door on the right. Brandon waked up behind her, and they entered. As soon as they were in the room, they rushed back out and closed the door. Raccoons inside began to scratch at the door.

"I think we should leave now," Brandon said.

"But we just got here," Laura complained. "Come on, just five more rooms and we're out."

"Just five," he agreed.

"I get to choose, tough," she said and ran off before he could disagree. He chased her down the hallway and nearly bumped into her when she suddenly stopped and put her ear to a door. He did the same.

There were footsteps inside. It was unmistakable. Someone else was in the mansion that night. Brandon could practically feel his heart beat faster. Laura put her hand to the doorknob despite the danger and opened the door.

The shadowy figure turned as soon as he heard the door squeak. Red eyes narrowed in the darkness, and he put his hand on his gun. The two intruders didn't see the motion, however. He dropped his hand when he saw that neither of them were the person he was looking for.

"Get out," he said, "while you still can."

"What?" Laura asked. "Who are you?"

In the moonlight streaming in from the window, Brandon could barely make out his face. "You're…Vincent, right?" he asked.

Vincent didn't reply. His red eyes burned into Brandon's blue ones.

"Didn't you get arrested?" Brandon asked.

"I didn't do what they thought I did," was all Vincent would tell him.

"You didn't murder Cid?" Brandon asked. Frank Cid was one of the major people involved in making the FF7 online game. He was found dead, not long after the game came out. Vincent also helped create the game, and he was the last seen with Cid. They'd been arguing about John Shinra, the producer of the game.

"I know who did it," Vincent said. "I'm just…not sure who he really is."

"Is that why you're here?" Brandon asked.

"Yeah," he said. "I heard from Seth Cait that he was nearby."

Brandon shook his head. This was more FF7 than he liked. Seth was known for making some of the best minigames in FF7. Something fishy was going on, and it was going on in his town.

"We could help," Aeris said, interrupting Brandon's thoughts. "If we find out anything about him, we'll come to you.

Vincent nodded. "Thanks."

(A week later in Tifa's POV)

Tiffany frowned as she watched Laura and Brandon talk. They seemed perfect for each other and sometimes gave each other special looks when they thought no one was looking. They just hadn't noticed it. It was only a matter of time, though, before they became a couple. She really liked Brandon, too….

"Hey, Tif?" Garret asked. "Can ya help me with this problem?"

Tiffany looked down at her own worksheet and sighed. She hadn't done a single thing, and class was almost over. Garret groaned when he saw her paper. "Well, what about that guy? When're ya gonna fight him?"

"Today," she said. "As soon as I get home."

"Good," Garret said. "I'm still grounded from my computer, but I can come over to your house."

Tiffany looked at the back of Brandon's blonde head. Maybe this would impress him. She had to fight and beat the guy, even if it was Sephiroth.

**Cloud and Aeris's POV** (I didn't do this in the other chapters and it's hard to tell it apart.)

"Today's the day of our date," Aeris told Cloud once she found him. He was in the desert region again.

"Where are we going?" he asked. It was a reward for being her bodyguard, but he knew he had no choice in the matter.

"You'll see," she replied. "I bet you'll like it."

"How are we getting there?" he asked.

"I'll pick you up at six," she said, grinning at the look on his face. It was yet another reminder of their age difference.

Deciding it was time to change the subject, he said, "Have you heard anything of Cid's murder?"

Aeris shook her head. "No," she said. "I went to see Vincent yesterday, but he wasn't there. I'm worried about him."

"We'll go back tomorrow, on Saturday. It's the beginning of the weekend, so we'll have plenty of time," he said. This seemed to make Aeris feel better. She smiled.

"Dress casually. We're going to have a lot of fun."

**Tifa's POV**

Tifa showed up at the volcano region at six, just as they'd planned. Garret was watching all of this over Tiffany's shoulder. If he couldn't get on, he'd at least see it for himself. After all, this sounded an awful lot like those stories about Sephiroth challenging random people.

A tall man with long, silver hair and cold eyes approached them. He pulled his long sword out of its sheath and pointed it at Tifa without a word.

"Are you Sephiroth?" Tifa asked, putting up her fists.

A cold smile spread across his face. "You found out," he said and attacked.

_A/N: Tifa does die, but does Tiffany? Review, please. Reviews make my world go round and definitely put me in the mood to continue my stories. This is my first story without an OC, and I was surprised at the change in my amount of reviews. Please, you guys, review with comments or suggestions about my summary and story. I'd really appreciate it._


	4. Let's Date, Stranger

_A/N: Hey, enjoy my story._

**Chapter Four**

Brandon stepped out of his house only seconds before Laura pulled into his driveway. She was driving a green jeep and a few of her friends were stuffed in the back. She waved and patted the front seat.

"Brandon, these crazy people in the back are Don Corneo, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Jacob…uh, what was your last name?" Laura said.

"Reno," Jacob said, scooting away from Don. Yuffie punched Don in the face when he got too close to her, uh, chest.

"Don's a pervert," Laura told Brandon. "I'm only driving him to the party because it's his. He was at a strip club and didn't want to be caught drinking and driving."

"We're going to a party?" Brandon asked. He had no problem with parties…as long as he wasn't at them.

"Yeah," Laura said. "Do you still want to go?"

"I guess," Brand said, getting into the jeep.

**Tifa's and Garret's POV**

She didn't stand a chance against Sephiroth. He took down her character in only five moves. Right before he killed Tifa, he said, "I'm coming for you…Tiffany."

Tiffany removed the virtual reality helmet and looked at Garret with wide eyes. He was still staring at the screen that flashed "Game Over". "Garret, I just lost to Sephiroth…and he knows my name," she said, sounding worried.

"It's not that hard to guess," Garret said. "Don't worry, it's probably some freak pretending to be Sephiroth so he can scare people."

"I hope so," Tiffany said. "Uh, Garret…do you mind staying over tonight?"

Garret sighed. "Sure, Tif. Don't you worry."

**Laura's and Brand's POV**

Laura drove off at top speed, getting a panicked scream from Don. Yuffie started to look a bit queasy and glared at Don. At least Brandon knew he was safe if she threw up.

Laura slid haphazardly into Don's driveway a couple of minutes later. Brandon nearly fell out of the jeep. Laura, unperturbed, grabbed his arm and dragged him into the house. Loud rock music was blasting from a stereo inside. Yuffie stumbled out of the jeep, followed by the two boys.

As soon as they were inside, Laura introduced him to a dozen people he didn't know and quite a few he did. She was pretty outgoing if she made more friends in a few days than he did five years of living there. Of course, it wasn't hard to get more friends than him. He wasn't a people person. When he went into the kitchen to escape all of the people while she was talking to a friend, she went in and tried to get him to dance with her.

"No," he said.

"Oh, come on," Laura said. "We're supposed to be having fun."

"I don't dance," he said.

"Do you know how to?" she asked, trying to get him to look at her.

"I don't see why I should learn," he replied.

"It's fun," she said, grabbing his wrists and uncrossing his arms. She began to pull him out of the kitchen and into the living room where everyone was dancing. "Don't worry, I'll teach you."

Brandon blushed madly when she tried to teach him to dance with her. He just knew he was going to make a total fool out of himself. A phone call saved him right before Laura really got into the music.

"Hey, Garret," Brandon said. He frowned when he heard Garret's half-panicked voice. Garret wasn't one to panic at all.

"Tif's gone," Garret said. "She lost to Sephiroth and now she's gone!"

"Hold on, where are you?" Brandon asked. Laura looked at him questionably and followed him into the quieter kitchen.

"We're at Tif's house. Hurry up and come down here," he said and hung up.

"Laura, can you drive me to Tiffany's house?" Garret asked. "Something's wrong."

Laura drove into Tiffany's front lawn, nearly running over Garret. As soon as Brandon jumped out, he grabbed him by the shoulder, and they charged into the house.

"I left for two seconds to go get a pillow from my house, and she just disappeared," Garret said. "Sephiroth got her."

"Maybe she just went out, too," Brandon reasoned.

"Brandon," came a voice from the doorway. They turned and saw Vincent standing there. "Cid's murderer was in the mansion. I had to leave, but when I went back, he was gone. He's on the move; I know it."

"Cid's murderer must be Sephiroth," Laura said.

"If that's so, he'll probably take her back to the mansion to kill her," Vincent said.

"What the hell y'all waitin' for? Let's go!" Garret said, rushing to his car and pulling a shotgun from the trunk. "I'm comin' with y'all."

Laura parked her car in front of the mansion, and they jumped out. Brandon and Laura didn't have any weapons so Garret made them take the back. Vincent led the way to an empty room.

"The hell kind of trick you tryin' to pull?" Garret demanded, probably about ready to use the shotgun on the criminal.

Vincent didn't reply to his question. He took a few steps forward and pushed a brick in the wall. As soon as he did it, the wall moved aside and he walked down some spiraling stairs. They followed him down.

The stairs ended in a cave. Laura looked about with wonder and probably would've explored if her friend wasn't in danger. Vincent pulled a torch from a sconce on the wall and held it up to a locked door. He pulled the key from his pocket and pushed it open. Garret rushed in first.

"Damn…" Garret said. The other three ran in after him and stopped in their tracks.

Brandon's blue eyes widened as he took in the room. There were four coffins on the floor in there. Axes and swords and other weapons decorated the blood-splattered walls. With their hands and feet nailed to the lids of the coffins were four people, their glazed eyes staring up at the ceiling. A strong feeling made him look up. Written in blood was…

Sirens filled the air. Brandon forced himself to think only of the sirens and nothing else. Laura cried into her hands beside him as one of the police officers tried to get some information out of Garret. Vincent was long gone. If he got caught here, there would be no way to direct the search to Sephiroth.

"In the place youth despises and the old miss dearly, your beloved Tiffany will breathe her last breath," Brandon mumbled to himself. Laura looked at him with eyes red from crying. "That's what Sephiroth wrote on the ceiling." He caught her gaze. "We'll get him before he can do anything to her."

Aeris nodded and wiped the tears from her face.

"What the hell does that mean?" Garret growled once the officer left him alone. "I don't get it."

"We'll find out soon enough," Brandon said. "For now, we have to figure out where Sephiroth is. I'm gonna…I'm gonna kill him." He clenched his fists. "There's no way he's getting away with this.

_A/N: And so the Search for Sephiroth begins. Can you guess what place Sephiroth means? It's absolutely easy. Please review. Please? I put two out in one day and now I have to sleep. Adios, mis amigos. _


	5. YES! Tifa's GONE! I Mean How Sad

_A/N: Ha! I loves you people. I have fifteen reviews now! I didn't even expect ten. Needless to say, I am more than happy. Replies below. Also, I won't be updating for a whole week soon. June 4th, I'm going over to this Law Enforcement Explorers Training Academy. It's for kids 14(me)-21 who're interested in law enforcement. In other words, I'm gonna be a cop when I am 21. Also, I'll either be visiting my cousin or going to Renaissance Festivals every weekend of May. Sorry, guys. _

**Ghost in the Mirror**: Oh, hey! Glad you liked it. I like your stories, too. Sorry I didn't see your review before I posted my newest chapter. Your challenge is awesome. So many people have made stories based on it. I only wish more people would take the challenge. I know it's a rotten cliffhanger. Hehe.

**Jindinea**: Hey! Thanks for reviewing on both my new chapters. I'm really glad you like my story. But…does she die? Hmmm…I've done some thinking on that so I know…but you'll have to wait!

**AerithRosey**: Hola. It's okay that you didn't review. Thanks for two reviews, too. Sorry for the ruined date. Mwahaha…any suggestions for another one would be welcome. And you're right about the setting. Nice detective work…

**Princess of the Knight**: Thanks! Yeah, I hope Cloud kicks Sephrioth's ass too! D:

**Beeria**: Thank you! And I will. No Worries about that.

_A/N: I appreciate all you faithful readers and even the ones who don't review, too! I hope you absolutely love my story, and I definitely hope I don't fail you as a writer. _

**Chapter…uh…Five**

Cloud was seriously angry about the censor now. Aeris wasn't online so he called Laura instead.

"Huh?" answered a man. He sounded…drunk.

"Can I speak to Laura, please?" Brandon asked.

"She's out with her friend…uh, Garret. She said she was gonna go…exploring," the man said and hung up.

Brandon sighed and got on his bicycle. Garret never answered his cell phone. They were probably looking around that old mansion. The police wouldn't let anyone get inside, but that wouldn't stop those two from searching around.

Laura and Garret looked up when they heard a strange sound. They were behind the mansion, trying to hide from the police and look around at the same time, so they were pretty nervous. When they saw Brandon jump off his bicycle and run over, however, they relaxed.

"Any news from Vincent?" Brandon asked.

"No," Laura said. "He just vanished."

"Any news from the web?" Garret asked.

Brandon gave Laura a look before shaking his head. "Nope. I've been censored."

"Censored?" Garret repeated. He looked back and forth between them but finally gave up. "Whatever. We need to get Vincent's number or something."

"What we need to do is get out of here," Brandon said. "If you get seen snooping around, the cops might suspect us."

"All right," Laura said. "My jeep's a block away. I'll drive us to a restaurant."

"Uh, Laura, maybe Garret should drive."

**Tifa's POV**…Dun dun dun.

Tifa woke up on her back with chains wrapped around her arms and legs. They secured her to the cold cement floor. A tall figure stood above her, but his cold gaze was not focused on her.

"Vincent…" the figure said.

The person he was looking at was chained to the wall, forced into an upright position. He looked bad. He had a bullet wound in his chest and one in his arm. He'd survive, but it sure as hell looked painful. He raised his head and glared at Sephiroth with two narrowed red eyes. They were cold but in a different way. It almost cooled the fiery pain in Tifa's head.

"You're a fool," Sephiroth said. "They betrayed you, too, just like my mother. All for a game. Yet you came after me."

"You betrayed me," the man with red eyes said.

"They set you up," Sephiroth said.

"Steven—"

Sephiroth raised a handgun and pointed it at Vincent. "I'll kill every last one of your precious players to return all the money that's rightfully my mother's and mine. You're in the way."

**Brandon's POV** (Gasp, does Vincent die? Who knows? I didn't even intend for him to be captured. It just felt right.)

While Brandon searched the actual web, he found a link to something that looked very interesting. After searching from three to six, he was ready to go for anything. He clicked it.

A screen came up talking about Richard Hojo, John Shinra, and Sarah Jenova. People had argued on the page whether or not Ms. Jenova actually created the game. Most said no, but there were some who sided with Jenova, saying what she said was the truth. John Shinra sued Jenova, saying the game was all Hojo's creation, fueled by Shinra's funding. He won in court and Jenova went bankrupt. She was on her death bed currently, and her son, Steven Jenova, vowed revenge on Shinra.

Brandon printed out two copies of the page to give to Garret and Laura. This just might be the answer. If Steven Jenova actually went through with the whole revenge thing, he could be Sephiroth.

He folded it, put it in his pocket, and found out by his caller ID and the computer where Laura lived. He had to show her now before she forgot. His parents were out on a business trip so he didn't have to ask or give a reason. As soon as he got on his bike, he was off.

Brandon was surprised when he came to a poor neighborhood. He looked at a paper with her address on it just to be sure. Yeah, this was the right place.

When he got to Laura's house, there was the sound of breaking glass. He was about to rush in when he heard shouting. "Why don't you just drop out of that fucking school, Lauren? Hurry up and get the fuck out of here so you can get me a grandson!" a voice yelled.

"Girls have more purpose than popping out babies!" a voice similar but older than Laura's shouted back. "Go, Laura. Your father's in a mood."

The door to the small house opened up and Laura ran out. When she almost collided with Brandon, she stared at him with wide, confused eyes.

"Laura…" he said. Instead of replying, she grabbed his arm and led him and his bike to her jeep. Brandon quickly put his bike in the back and got in the passenger seat. It was a sign of Laura's distress that she drove off at a normal speed without swerving. He kept looking at her, wondering what he should say.

"You don't have to say anything," Laura told him, glancing from the road to him. "I'm pretty much used to my dad's attitude by now."

"You shouldn't have to live with something like that," Brandon said quietly.

"I know," Laura said with a sigh. "Come on. Let's go to McDonalds or something. My treat. Why did you come over, anyways?"

"Oh," Brandon said, digging in his pocket. He pulled out the crumpled piece of paper he'd printed. "I just might've found a lead."

Laura looked at the paper, back at the road, then at the paper. Brandon just grabbed the wheel, and she began to read it.

"This does sound suspicious, but we'll need more than that," Laura said, smiling at his effort. "We'll show it to Garret." She hesitated a moment. "Do you mind if I…stay over at your house tonight?"

_A/N: I'm really sorry it took so long for me to update. Computer problems. Thanks so much for reviewing, you guys. It really makes my day, you know? Anyways, please review. Tell me what you think. _


	6. Bodyguard

_A/N: I got two new reviewers. Twenty-one reviews so far! I feel _great_ about my story._

**Omega Gilgamesh**: I was so sad when she died, and I wish there was no such thing as Cloti! Unfortunately, most like Cloti and not Clerith. Ah well. Thanks for reviewing.

**Princess of the Knight**: I just realized you wrote some of my favorite stories. Project Holy and My Light are really good. I wish you'd update Holy, though. And Cloud will! He'll tear that bad boy up! Just you wait…

**Jindinea**: I'm glad you do. And don't worry; I'll try to explain everything. I do like updating, though.

**Mibu Onikage**:I know the chapters are short, but I put 'em out quick…maybe I should make them longer…I'll make this one longer, k? The only reason I apologized for the wait was because there were several times where I could've put it out but something came up. Thanks for reviewing!

**Beeria**: I know! I hate her dad myself, and I made his dumb ass. And, yeah, she's going to his house! It just…popped into my mind. I practice free writing, which means I let my mind wander while I write. You're going to get some totally random things in this story. Speaking of stories, I read a couple of yours a while back. They're really good.

**Anonymous**: All right. Anything for my readers.

**Chapter Six**

It took a moment for it to sink in that Brandon was in his house, all alone with a girl he just might like…a little more than a friend. As if she was trying to make it harder on Brandon, Laura announced that she was about to take a shower.

"Now?" he asked.

"Yes now!" she said. "I went on a jog earlier, and I'm sweaty." Her eyes danced with amusement. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Uh, no," Brandon said, looking away. "I just- uh, I'll make dinner."

"You don't have to," she replied. "I have a job. It's the least I could do to pay for a pizza."

Brandon agreed and decided to look through his parents' movies. They'd taken most of them with them to Oklahoma on their business trip and left him a few old scary movies and a couple of dumb comedies they'd taped. He went with the scary movies.

The pizza had already arrived and the movie was already playing when Laura came out, her hair slightly wet. She sat next to Brandon, and he could catch her scent. She smelled…good.

He found it even harder to concentrate on the stupid movie. His concentration left completely when Laura threw a pepperoni at him. The sauce made it stick to his cheek, and she began to laugh. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and threw the pepperoni back at her.

Suddenly, pizza was flying everywhere, and it still hadn't cooled off. A whole slice landed on top of Brandon's head, and he began to tickly Laura to death when she wouldn't stop laughing.

The slice of pizza fell off his head and on the floor. Laura began to slide down after it. She grabbed him, and they both went crashing to the ground, Brandon on top of her. They were both so busy laughing, they didn't notice the front door open.

"Brandon? What are you doing, son?" asked a feminine voice. Brand's eyes widened; that voice could only belong to one person. His mother only called him "son" when she was surprised- in a bad way.

"What's going on, Barbara?" asked a male voice. His father stepped into the doorway next to his wife.

Brandon quickly rolled off Laura, and they quickly stood up. It was bad. The living room was covered in pizza, there was an uninvited guest over- of the opposite sex- and they'd just walked in on him on top of her. "I can explain…" he said.

"It's all my fault," Laura cut in.

"What's your name, young lady?" his father asked.

"Lauren," she said politely. "I'm sorry about this."

"Why are you over here?" He looked at both of them.

"I'm having…family troubles, and I asked Brandon if I could come over," Laura said apologetically. Brandon stared at her; if he'd had anyone else over, he would be dead by now. The expressions on his parents' faces told him he just might get off the hook.

"Oh," said his mother. "Oh, that's different."

"Clean all this up, you two, and then we'll talk," his dad said.

"Yes, sir," they both said and immediately went to work. His parents went upstairs with their suitcases to unpack.

"You're good," Brand whispered when they were out of earshot.

"I know," she said, grinning. "I trust you weren't expecting them back so soon."

"Yeah," he said, dumping pizza into the garbage can. "They weren't supposed to come back until tomorrow afternoon."

"Do you think they'll let me stay over?" Laura asked.

"My parents are pretty nice," he said. "You'd have to be Garret for them to kick you out in this situation."

Laura looked like she was about to laugh, but her eyes suddenly grew sad. She looked out the window, and Brand knew who she was thinking about.

"Don't worry," he said, helping her put the last of the pizza in the garbage can. "We'll get Tiffany back from Sephiroth."

"I think what he meant by 'place youth despises and the old miss dearly'," Laura said. "It really isn't that hard, as if he wants us to go. He means school. I wonder when he's going to…" She trailed off, but Brand caught where she was going.

"Just don't think about it," Brandon said.

"You're right," Laura said with a sigh.

"All right, now," Brand's father said as he walked into the room. "You want to stay here for tonight?"

"Yes," Laura said.

"I suppose you can have Cloud's bed," his mother said, going to the kitchen. Laura grinned, thinking, '_So that's where he got the name_.' "Sorry for ruining this for you, son, but they called us back early."

"Where will he sleep?" Laura asked.

"The couch," his father said simply. Brandon slumped; he hated the couch.

"It's settled, then," his mom said. "Sweetie, do you have pajamas?"

It took Laura a moment to realize she meant her. "No," she said. "I left in a hurry."

"Do you mind wearing one of Cloud's big t-shirts and shorts, dear?" she asked Laura.

Laura shook her head.

"Prepare her bed, Brandon," said his father, "and get her some pajamas."

Brandon nodded and ran up the stairs to his room. Laura, not wanting to be alone with strangers, excused herself and ran after him. She glanced about Cloud's room as he turned his back to her and fixed his bed. It was so like him. There were army posters on the wall, a poster of some guy from an anime show wielding a huge sword, and tons of wooden and steel weapons lying about messily among the dirty clothes on the floor.

When he saw her, he quickly stuffed the dirty clothes in a basket and closed the lid. She smiled at him. "I like your room," she said.

"Thanks," he said. "Here are some clean clothes." He handed her some really baggy shorts and a t-shirt that could fit two Brandons in it. She thanked him and quickly ran off to change.

Brandon sighed and began to straighten his messy bed. This had been a really embarrassing day. He hoped things just settled down a bit.

**Vincent's POV**

Vincent ran down the dirt road through the woods. Sephiroth was chasing him, he knew. He put a hand on his hidden gun.

A black corvette was speeding down the road after him. He could barely see it in the dark. He winced and held one of his wounds. He couldn't keep running forever.

Sephiroth let go of the wheel and aimed his rifle at Vincent. His shot missed when Vincent suddenly dropped to the ground and rolled off the road. Sephiroth slammed down on the brakes when he passed him and got out of his car.

"Time to die," he said, pointing his rifle at Vincent, who sat up. Sephiroth was taken by surprise when Vincent suddenly leapt up, shot wildly at him, and shoved his rifle to the side. Vincent then pushed past Sephiroth and leapt into the corvette. Sephiroth would have gone after him if Vincent wasn't still firing at him. He watched his corvette speed down the street and pulled out his cell phone.

"I want to report a grand theft auto."

**Brandon's POV**

Brand tried to find a comfortable position on the lumpy couch he was forced to sleep on. It seemed impossible, however. His parents were asleep in their room, and Laura was probably snoozing, too. He wished he was so lucky.

"Brandon," whispered a voice from the bottom of the stairs. He looked up and saw Laura approaching him.

"Laura? What are you doing up?" he asked.

"Same as you," she said, smiling. "I couldn't sleep."

"Oh," he said and sat up. "So, uh, what's up?"

"Come sleep with me," she said.

"Huh?" Brand asked.

Laura sighed with frustration. "I mean sleep in your room. I'll even let you take the floor," she said.

"I'll get in trouble," he said, hesitant.

"Oh, come on, bodyguard," she said. "Please?"

Brandon gave in. "All right." They were about to go upstairs when there was a soft tap on the window beside the front door. The exchanged looks and slowly approached. Brandon pulled aside the curtain, and they both sighed with relief when they saw Vincent.

Brand quickly opened the door. As soon as it was open, Vincent collapsed. Brand caught him, and they helped him onto the couch.

"Vincent?" Brand whispered. "What happened?"

"Sephiroth," Vincent said.

"I'm going to call an ambulance," Laura said, starting for the phone.

"No," Vincent said. "I'll be arrested. I'm sure Sephiroth has called the cops on me already. Just…help me hide."

Brand and Laura looked at each other. Before he even realized it, Brandon was dialing for Garret. He always picked up late at night, but never during the day.

"What the hell are you doing calling me this late?" Garret demanded as soon as he picked up his phone.

"There's an emergency," Brandon said. "Your parents are never home, and Vincent needs a place to hide out. He's also hurt, and your mother keeps medical supplies there, right? Can you come to my house?"

"Sure," Garret said and hung up. Brandon put down the phone.

"He's coming. He lives only a couple of minutes away," Brand said. "Let's get Vincent outside."

Laura and Brandon, along with a greatly weakened Vincent, got onto the porch. Vincent was laid out on his back. He winced before saying, "You'll have to hide…the car." Then, his eyes closed. Laura caught her breath and put a hand to his throat. Her sigh of relief told Brandon that Vincent was just asleep.

"I'll do it," Laura said, getting to her feet. She gave Vincent a worried look but left his side to get into the corvette. Brandon nearly had a heart attack when she pulled recklessly out of the driveway, spun, and drove off down the street. He wondered where she was going but quickly dropped the thought when Garret pulled in.

"Hurry the hell up and get him in!" Garret ordered. Brandon lost no time complying. As soon as the door was closed, Garret drove off.

Brandon sat on his porch and waited for Laura to come back. He was just about to grab his bike and ride after her when some new car pulled into the driveway. He was surprised his parents hadn't woken up from all the noise.

Laura got out of the car and waved to the driver before he pulled out and left. "That was Biggs, my dad's friend," she said. "He'll take care of it."

"Oh," Brandon said. "He didn't ask any questions?"

"Well," Laura said, hesitating.

"You can tell me," Brandon said.

"He usually deals with crime related things like this. In fact, it's usually bodies he takes care of," she said with a grimace.

"Oh," Brandon said again. He ran a hand through his hair and stood up. "We'd better get back inside. We'll go after Sephiroth tomorrow morning. Without a car, he won't go very far."

Laura yawned and agreed. This time, he went up peacefully and lay down on the floor.

"Cloud?" she asked. At the use of his that name, he sat up and looked at her. She smiled. "Don't get yourself killed, all right?"

Brandon nodded. "Don't worry. I'm your bodyguard. I have to be there to protect you," he said.

She nodded. "That's a promise?"

Brandon nodded. "That's a promise."

_A/N: Long enough? I hope so. And I tried to put some action in there, too, but there'll be more later. It'll be better. Anyways, tell me what you think. Thanks for reading, and please review!_


	7. Girls Are Weird

_A/N: You guys should know I'll try to comply with any and all of your suggestions. Thanks to my reviewers. Peace! Oh, and I wanted to know what you guys think. Should this story be a romance/action/adventure or something else? Also, is it rated right? If you guys can inform me or suggest something, I'd really appreciate it. _

_Disclaimer: I keep forgetting this. No, I don't own FF7. _

**Princess of the Knight**: Cool! Not much of my work to be a fan of, though. I'll be looking for the new chapter as soon as I have time.

**Ghost in the Mirror**: Thanks! So you were thinking of Final Fantasy 11? Well, it turned out good.

**AerithRosey**: Thanks for the compliments! I had fun writing it. I'm glad you like it.

**Beeria**: Ah, advertisement's free. Thanks for reviewing. Apparently, you guys like long chapters. I'll try and keep that up.

**prettymissy54**: I'm glad it turned out that way. You never know with my stories. I'll update as often as possible. Thanks for reviewing.

**Chapter Seven**

Laura yawned and jumped out of bed. To her surprise, she landed on something that moved, and she soon found herself on the floor. For a moment, she was disoriented and unsure of where she was. Then Brandon sat up, clutching his stomach.

"What was that for?" he asked sleepily, his eyelids drooping.

"Sorry," she replied, not about to get up. She was quite comfortable on the ground next to Brandon.

Brand blinked at her for a few moments, trying to bring her into focus. He rubbed his eyes and reached for his cell phone on the ground. It was seven in the morning. He was awake at seven in the morning on a Sunday. He decided to call Garret. He'd probably answer at this ungodly hour.

"If you keep calling me, I'll kill you," was Garret's grumpy reply.

"Good morning," Brandon said. "How's Vincent?"

"His chest and arm still had bullets in them, but I managed to get them out. He'll live, but I sure as hell don't wanna be in his position." He hung up.

Laura looked at him anxiously, waiting for the news. "He'll be just fine," Brandon said. He didn't expect the hug that Laura gave him, and ran a hand through his hair with a confused expression when she suddenly let him go. "I'm going to go change now," she said and ran out of the room. Girls were weird.

Brandon called after her as she ran down the steps. "I'm going over to Garret's house on my bike. Vincent might know something about Sephiroth," he said.

It took him a few minutes to get to Garret's house and a couple more to get him to come to the door. Before Garret could attack him he said, "Let me see Vincent."

"Tell me everythin' that happened first," Garret said. "Vincent's asleep in the basement, and he hasn't been awake long enough to tell me."

Brandon quickly told Garret everything he knew, handed him the sheets he'd printed out before, and pushed past him into his house. Their houses were pretty much the same. He easily found the basement. Sure enough, Vincent was lying asleep on a mattress on the floor. His shirt was off, and his wounds were bandaged tightly.

As soon as Brandon sat down beside the mattress, however, Vincent's eyes opened. He looked at him and tried to sit up.

"Oh no the hell you don't!" Garret said, shoving him back down. "I didn't fix you up so you could hurt yourself more!"

"I think I saw Tifa," Vincent said, ignoring Garret. He was immediately allowed to sit up. "She was in a shed in the woods just behind the video store."

"Get offa your ass!" Garret said, grabbing Brandon's arm and yanking him to his feet. "Grab two guns from the kitchen and get in my car. I'll get Vincent."

Garret's rusted heap of a car spat out black smoke and backed out of the driveway. Vincent was lying down in the back, wearing sunglasses and one of Garret's t-shirts. That was their lame attempt to disguise him. Brandon was sitting next to Garret in the passenger's seat, hoping Garret's "baby" wasn't about to collapse. It pulled through, and they soon drove past the video store and into the woods.

Vincent guided Garret from there, telling him to take a turn at the few forks they came by. They found themselves parked in front of a big shed. Garret told Brandon to wait with Vincent in the car and kicked the shed's door open, shotgun in hand.

Brandon waited for what seemed like an eternity. He started to make small pyramids out of the empty beer bottles in Garret's car. He shattered tow of them when he heard gunshots go off inside the shed. He grabbed the shotgun he got for himself and ran for the hut. He had no choice in leaving Vincent behind.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he rushed into the shed and looked about wildly. What he saw nearly made him drop his weapon. A man with long, silver hair held Garret up by the neck. His shotgun lay forgotten on the ground. Brandon aimed his gun at the silver-haired man and said, "Put him down!"

The guy turned his face slightly from the struggling black man he held above the ground by the throat and lifted his free hand. There was a handgun in it. The gun began to shake in Cloud's hands.

"Put him down!" Brandon said nervously.

One of the guns went off. Brandon pulled his trigger, but it wouldn't move. It was on safety. Something fell from above, and he blacked out.

(Later)

Brandon woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. He blinked several times before putting a hand to his aching head. There were bandages wrapped around it.

A nurse walked in and smiled when she saw him sit up. It was one of those fake, let's-get-this-over-with smiles. She poked her head out into the hall and said, "He's awake. You can come in now."

His mother walked in and enveloped him in a big hug. She looked angry, though, when she pulled back. "Garret told me everything!" she said sternly.

"He did?" Brandon asked with wide eyes. Why would he do that?

"Yes," she said. "I cannot believe you two! Why would you throw rocks at an unstable beam?"

Brandon stared at her for several moments before it clicked. "We- we were bored," he said quickly. "Don't be mad, mom."

"_Well_," she said, "that nice, _sensible_ girl Laura left a while ago. She had to go to school."

"School?" Brandon said. "You mean it's Monday? I was out that long?"

"Well, what do you expect? You had a concussion!" she exclaimed. "I have to go to work soon, sweetie. I just wanted to be here when you woke up."

"When can I leave?" Brandon asked.

"They said tomorrow, but are you feeling up to it today?" she asked. Brandon nodded eagerly.

**Laura's POV**

Laura was in geometry, staring down a rather intimidating question, when her phone vibrated. She looked at the teacher and found him asleep on his desk. Shaking her head, she opened her cell phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?" she said in a half-whisper.

"Lauren? Oh, thank God. It's me, Tiffany," said a hushed, scared voice.

"Tiffany?" Laura said loudly. She glanced quickly at the teacher and was relieved to see him still sleeping. "Where are you?"

"A gas station," Tiffany said. "Please, come and get me. I- I don't know what to do."

"I'll be right there," Laura said. "Hold on, Tiffany." She hung up her phone and stuffed it in her pocket. "Uh, Mr. White? My, uh, sister's hurt. I have to go."

Laura went running out the school building and nearly ran over Yuffie and Reno. They were sneaking out.

"Laura!" Yuffie said, grinning. "Can you give us a ride?"

"I'm going somewhere," Laura said, not even glancing at her. Yuffie got in the back with Reno.

"We'll just come, too!" she said.

**Brandon's POV**

Brandon was sitting at home, eating Cheerios and minding his own business, when his phone rang. He answered it immediately when he saw who was calling.

"I'm coming to pick you up," Laura said without waiting for him to say "hello".

"Why?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No, something really good has happened," Laura said happily. "Be waiting outside, okay?"

Brandon ran out the door as soon as she hung up. Almost as soon as he stepped out, Laura nearly wrecked into his house. He got in, and she sped off. Yuffie waved from the back seat, grinning widely.

"Reno's already there, and Garret's on his way, too," she reported.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Tiffany's okay," Laura said. "She's at her house being suffocated by her parents."

"She's-" There was a loud bang and the car suddenly began to spin out of control. The back end hit a tree in someone's front yard. Brandon's head had collided with the dashboard, and everything was slowly fading away.

**Yuffie's POV**

Brandon was unconscious, but Laura and Yuffie were fine since they had their seatbelts on. Yuffie tried not to throw up and watched Laura reach over to help out Brandon. Her airbags hadn't come out. Laura just stretched out her hand when there was a loud bang. The windshield shattered.

Yuffie and Laura ducked, but Yuffie was the only one to turn and look back. A truck parked behind them and a man holding a rifle stepped out of the car. She shook Laura's shoulder, and they looked at him, wide-eyed. Laura's cell phone was immediately out. Her fingers dialed 911.

**Garret's POV**

Garret was extremely relieved that his best friends were all right. Laura had told him both Brandon and Tiffany were safe and sound. He was driving way past the speed limit, eager to see his friend.

For a couple of minutes, he started messing with the radio. When it finally got to a good station, he paid more attention to the road. It looked like there was a wreck up ahead. He was about to pass when he saw a truck pull up behind it to help but screeched to a stop when he saw a familiar person step out of the truck.

When he felt under his seat and brought it out without a gun, he cussed and opened up his door. Sephiroth, Laura, and some girl he didn't know stared at him, surprised by his sudden entrance.

"This is a new neighborhood," Sephiroth said. "No one lives here. Your bodies will lie here for days before they find you. By then, Shinra Co. will be shut down. You can stop me."

Garret charged at him, fists clenched. He had to stop him.

As sudden gunshot made him reel back. There was a hole in his in his shoulder, and the blood was quickly spreading on his shirt. He looked up and met Laura's horrified eyes before falling to the ground.

**Laura's POV**

Garret was down. It was starting to register. Sephiroth was about to shoot her fallen friend in the head.

"No!" she shouted loudly. Her body was moving before she could even register it. She jumped on Sephiroth's back and grabbed his rifle.

Yuffie jumped out at the same time and kicked him in the side. He hit her with his rifle and grabbed Laura's arm. Laura used his strength to pull his rifle down with her. The rifle was aimed at him almost before she hit the ground. Sephiroth froze.

"The police are coming," she said, trying to calm her shaking voice. "Don't move and I won't shoot you."

Sephiroth laughed coldly, making her shiver. "Cloud couldn't shoot me. What makes you think you can, Aeris?"

Laura looked at him, shocked into lowering her gun slightly. When he moved, she quickly pulled the trigger, but he dodged it and ran for his truck. That was when the police arrived. Three cars stopped, surrounding her jeep. Sephiroth's truck went speeding by them.

"That's him!" she shouted. "He tried to shoot us!"

Two of the three police cars drove off, and a man stepped out of the one left behind. He had just called an ambulance.

"They'll be here soon to get your friends and take them to the hospital," the man said.

"Thank you," she said, dropping the rifle quickly as if it was burning. Yuffie held her bruising face and walked over to Laura.

"I'm never getting in a car with you again," Yuffie grumbled.

_A/N: So that's it for this chapter. Hope you liked it. Please review and all that. Like I said, suggestions are welcome. _


	8. No! Tiffany's okay!

_A/N: I'm in a good mood. I'm listening to Simple and Clean. Hehe. Oh, and if I didn't reply to your review somewhere along the line, tell me. My computer's a bitch.  
_

**Beeria**: Hey, you're quick. I just put out my new chapter. And, yeah, Yuffie's great. It's even worse for her with that motion sickness. Poor Yuff. You like the action? Cool. I'm glad this chapter came out good, too. Anyways, when are you going to update As You Wish?

**Ghost in the Mirror**: Thanks. There'll be more action, too. I just think my characters need a little break before a bomb hits.

**Anonymous**: True that. I try and update quick so you guys aren't kept waiting.

**Agita Omega**: All right. I'll put more online scenes, then. Thanks for the advice.

**AerithRosey**: All right, let's see. Aeris is…sixteen, and Cloud is fifteen. That's why he's the only one other than Tifa without a car. And I got their names completely randomly. I just wrote an original story offline, and my main character was a girl name Brandon XP. Also, I got Lauren because that sounds like a very Aeris-ish name to me. I love suspense. Thanks for reviewing.

**Teddy-the-Bear**: Darn. You just ruined my plot to kill Barret. Just kidding. I dunno what I'll do, but I'll try to avoid that. Can't say he's my favorite, though.

**Chapter Eight**

They brought Laura in for questioning and finally let her out. Her mom was there to pick her up since her jeep was getting repaired. She hugged her and made sure all the scrapes and bruises from the wreck weren't bad. When they got into the car and started it up, her mother asked for details.

"I'm proud of you," her mother said. "That friend of yours Yuffie told me how you jumped on that crazy man. I'm also angry. You could've gotten yourself killed."

"Mom," Laura complained, "it's not like I asked for that to happen."

"That friend of yours is in the hospital again," she told her daughter. "What was his name?"

"Brandon," Laura said.

"He's not as bad off as last time, his mother told me," she replied. "He woke up a couple of hours after the crash."

"Can we go see him?" Laura asked, looking out the window.

"Of course," she said, turning down the road that led to the hospital. She glanced at her daughter out of the corner of her eye. "I see that look. That's how you looked when you talked about Zack."

Laura sighed. "I broke up with Zack, remember? Brandon's…different. I'm not so sure about him," she said.

"Is that so?" her mother asked, eyes on the road. "Well, don't listen to your father. I don't want grandchildren anytime soon."

"_Mom_," Laura said. She couldn't help but laugh.

"We're here," she said, pulling into the hospital's parking lot. "Let's go see my future son-in-law."

"We have to see Garret, too, Mom."

**Brandon's POV**

Brandon's mom left an hour ago after giving him a stern lecture on wearing his seatbelt. He was extremely bored and very worried about Garret. He'd heard from his mother that Garret was in the next room, suffering from bullet wounds.

Tiffany came in at five, looking worried and carrying her laptop and a Game Boy Advance. She handed it over, smiling.

"I thought you could use something to do," she said.

Brandon set the Game Boy aside, paying no attention to it. "Tiffany, you're…okay?" he said, disbelieving.

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "Garret had the same reaction."

"Is Garret going to be okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah," she said. "We're all going to be fine. Vincent's recovering, too. He's the only reason I could escape Sephiroth." Her eyes darkened when she said his name. "I'll get him back for hurting everyone."

"Wait until we're okay," Brandon said, sitting up. "We all have a score to settle with Sephiroth."

"Garret told me about the pages you printed out," she said, opening her laptop. She began to push buttons and type. Finally, she turned it around so he could see the screen. A picture of Sephiroth was on it. "Sephiroth is Steven Jenova, like you thought. His mother is dying and his father is Richard Hojo. The main reason no one believes his mother is because Hojo sides with Shinra and says she's a liar."

Brandon nodded, thoughtful. "I've read that Hojo says he isn't Steven's father. He's a weird guy," he said. "Did they get Seph- Steven?"

"No," Tiffany said with a sigh. "He slipped away."

"We have to arm ourselves," Brandon said. "Do you have any guns we can use?"

Tiffany frowned. "Just one but it's my dad's," she said. Her parents were like Garret's, but she'd be skinned if she took her dad's gun.

"Never mind," he said. "I'm sure Garret can come up with enough. Garret likes his guns."

"You've got another visitor," said a nurse, letting Laura and a woman he'd never met in. They looked very alike, and he could tell they were at least related. The nurse left them alone.

"Well, I have to go do some homework," Tiffany said. "I have a lot to catch up on. Bye, guys."

They said goodbye and watched her leave silently. Brandon looked up at Laura, hesitant in the presence of someone who could be her mother. The woman finally sighed.

"Fine, I'm going," she said, leaving them in the room alone.

Laura was the first to speak. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Fine," he said. "They said I could leave soon. Sorry I passed out on you."

Laura smiled. "I shouldn't have been driving so recklessly," she replied.

"Are you okay?" he asked, trying to scratch under the itchy bandages around his head.

"Yeah," she said. "Listen, Sephiroth's still out there. We're in big trouble if he tries something like that again."

"Yeah," he said. "We all need to be prepared, which means we need to carry a weapon of some kind at all times."

"Sephiroth's rifle is in evidence, but I could get a few from my father," she said thoughtfully.

"Who knows about Sephiroth, anyway?" he asked.

"Let's see," Laura said, counting people off on her fingers. "You, me, Garret, Yuffie, Tiffany, Vincent, and Reno know. Yuffie's the one who told Reno. Did you know they're going out now?"

Brandon stared at her. "They are? I can't see them as a couple," he said.

"Me neither, but that's what makes it good," she said, smiling. "Speaking of which, our date got cut off. We could…go rafting or something."

"Rafting?" he asked. "My mom would never let me do anything even somewhat dangerous. You don't have to make up for the date, though."

"I want to," she said. "What do you want to do?"

Brandon shrugged. "You choose," he said.

"I'll have to think about it," she said. "I have to go now, though." She glanced out the door at her mother, who was started to look bored. "I'll call you later."

**Sephiroth's POV**

Steven watched Laura leave the hospital. She was the one who stopped him last time. He wasn't happy. She's go down right after Tifa, Barret, and Vincent. Then he'd get that weakling Cloud. It was all a matter of time.

"Steven," said a voice. He glanced at the four people beside him. One was a woman named Elena, another was a kid named Jacob, then was a tall, bald man named Bill Rude, and the last was a man named Tom Tseng. Tom was the one speaking. "What did you hire us for?"

"There is a boy named Red Hojo going to the high school here," Steven said. "Kill him."

"What are you doing?" Jacob asked rudely.

"I'm going to kill a few people," Steven replied.

"Does that include the girl who just came out of the hospital?" Jacob asked.

"Reno, just do as you're told for once," Elena said.

"I have a separate target for you, Jacob," Steven said. He remembered a girl kicking him. She was a gamer, too. "Find out where a girl named Yuffie is and kill her."

Jacob Reno looked hesitant. Steven frowned.

"Rude will go with you."

(a few days later on a Saturday)

Laura was at Brandon's house. Her father was mad again, but he had a reason this time. She took three of his guns for her friends.

Brandon was asleep on the floor. His blonde hair moved lightly thanks to the fan. They'd gone rafting, and she felt close to him. They weren't going out, though. Brandon was a shy person, and she didn't want to ruin a good friendship.

Sephiroth was still active despite the police. He hadn't attacked them directly or even been seen, but a gamer named Red, their former biology partner, had been killed recently. Further investigation on their part had revealed he was Hojo's son. That had Sephiroth written all over it.

Laura wished all of this would just stop. She was tired of Sephiroth. She looked down at Brandon's peaceful face. She just wished he felt the same. Brandon was likely to get…- She didn't want to think about it. She'd stayed up enough.

(next morning)

Cloud raced across the plain region. He'd gotten up to level forty-five. Tifa waved from where she was and said, "You're not quite there yet, Cloud. Sephiroth is over level sixty."

"Let's spar, then," he suggested. She put up her fists and dodged both his swings. Her fists hit his face and torso several times, taking out half his life points. He got her in the midsection, but another combo took him out.

Tifa grinned. "You're not the only one who's been training," she said, stopping before he was killed. She tossed him a potion.

Cloud gratefully healed himself. He couldn't feel the pain, but he knew he just got his ass beat. Barret showed up just then, followed by Aeris.

"Where's Reno and Yuffie?" Cloud asked.

"Reno said he had to take care of somethin' and took Yuffie with him," Barret said. "Sephiroth's been online a lot more these days. We gotta be careful and keep our eyes peeled."

"Let's go again, Tifa," Cloud said. Tifa shrugged and put up her fists. This time, Cloud's defense was up way more. Even when she hit him, he barely got dealt damage. The swing that he got through nearly took out half her health. She put up a hand to stop him.

"Whoa, how'd you get that good so fast?" she asked.

Cloud thought for a moment. "Oh," he said, grinning at Aeris. "I'm her bodyguard."

"That's no fair," Tifa grumbled. She looked between the two. All her fight with Sephiroth got was pain. She was going to try and give up on Cloud. Vincent helped. Her talks with him really sorted things out, though she wondered why someone like him would talk to a high school student about boy problems.

Cloud suddenly got a message. He looked around before taking off his virtual reality helmet, which Barret had given him for keeps, and pulled up the message on his screen. It read:

To all concerned,

Sephiroth had hit again. All those who are beaten by him will be put up in a bulletin. The link is below.

Brandon clicked the link and put it in his favorites. Tifa's name was up and so was…Barret's. He stared at the name and quickly went back to the plain, his virtual reality helmet on.

"You got the message, too?" Tifa asked.

"Barret, what the hell? Why'd you fight Sephiroth and not tell anyone?" Cloud demanded, ignoring Tifa's question.

Barret glared. "What, I gotta clear everythin' with you? You ain't the leader. I was tryin' to prove somethin'. He's after me anyways."

Cloud sighed and was about to argue when someone was suddenly right in front of him. He took several steps back and lifted his sword. The person, however, was weaponless. He wasn't even wearing gloves like Tifa.

The man was short and wore a black cloak. His outstretched hand had a number on it.

Cloud was confused. "What do you-?" He jerked suddenly when the man's fingers elongated and ripped straight through his stomach. Everything went black, and Brandon quickly pulled off his helmet. His screen blinked Game Over. A message came up.

Sephiroth shall rule.

_A/N: Surprising, huh? Anyways, I like reviews and suggestions. Together, they're just great. Thanks to all those who reviewed. I hope you liked this chapter!_


	9. Betrayal And Burning Ashes

_A/N: I'm getting new reviewers by the chapter. It makes me happy. Also, I think I might start a Riku and Kairi fanfic sometime soon. Of course, there'll be some Cleris in that, too. It might be fun. Enjoy the chapter. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy anything. Don't sue me. _

**spirited angel1305**: You really think so? Thanks! I'll update frequently, don't you worry.

**AerithRosey**: Yeah! A kid with guns is a fun idea. I'll keep your suggestion in mind.

**Raitokage**: Hum…Red Hojo is Nanaki. Since he was Hojo's experiment, I just put him as Hojo's son. It made more sense to the story, I thought. Rufus…? You'll find out soon, if I get my way with the story. It's my story, but I tend to forget things. And don't worry. I'll keep writing this one till the end.

**Anonymous**: Thanks! I'll keep the recommendation in mind. A 10 out of 10, huh? You're too kind.

**Ghost in the Mirror**: Thanks! I love compliments. I'll try to make the other ones as good. Personally, I really like a scene in this chapter.

**Beeria**: I like Yuffie, too, but I like cliffies the best. Can you tell? You'll see what happens right below, though. Ahhh, confuuused. Please update that story soon, kay?

**Chapter Nine**

Yuffie looked around. Reno had taken her to a bridge. She looked down, far, far down to where the river was. If she fell, she'd die. That was something to think about. (Foreshadowing? Hehe, I love messing with y'all.) It felt nice to be alone with Reno, looking up at the starry sky. Few cars passed by this late.

Reno had been with her all day, and it was pretty late. She didn't have to go back home soon since her dad was probably sleeping or something. He used to be a big businessman, but all he did was lie about all the time.

"Yuffie," Reno said, "my friend Rude's coming about soon to meet you."

"Okay," she said with a grin. "Hey, do you think we could go bungee jumping soon or something? I heard Laura and Brandon went rafting."

Yuffie was confused by the sad expression on Reno's face. It didn't make since. Her usually-cocky boyfriend had never looked very sad around her. Drunk, maybe, but never sad.

"Maybe…" he said, looking up at the sky.

Yuffie saw a pair of lights approaching. "Hey, a car's coming," she said. "Is that him?"

Reno squinted. "Maybe," he repeated.

Yuffie realized Reno was looking more and more unsure as the car approached. Suddenly, when the car was almost to them, he shoved her to the ground and fell on top of her. Before she could ask why, she heard several gunshots. The car kept going. Reno helped her to her feet.

"What was that?" Yuffie asked, eyes wide. She hadn't expected gunshots after the whole Sephiroth-thing was over.

"Run, Yuffie," Reno said. The car was turning back around. Reno pulled a gun out and aimed at it. When he pulled the trigger, cracks spread throughout the car's windshield. "Run!" he shouted. Yuffie glanced back before taking off.

**Brandon's POV**

Brandon looked up when Sergeant Major Gordon, his JROTC teacher, called his name. "I need you to take this to Coach Kapatry? She's the gym teacher," he said.

Brandon jumped up and took the paper he handed to him. He walked quickly out of the room and down the hall, heading to the gym. All the kids wee playing volleyball. Laura should've been playing, too, since it was her gym period, but he didn't see her. The teacher wasn't there, either. He asked one of the kids where Coach Kapatry was.

"Uh, she's in the girls' locker room," said one kid named Nathan. He was very inattentive and had failed several times. "Take it in there to her. Unless you're scared."

Brandon scowled at him and headed to the locker room. He pushed open the door and took a few steps in. Some girl was in there, her back turned to him. She was in the process of putting on her shirt. Brandon's eyes fell on the bruises on her back. The girl pulled her shirt down and turned around to go. Her eyes met his, and he realized who it was.

"Laura?" he said, confused. "Your back-"

"Brandon," she said, eyes slightly widened. "You- you weren't supposed to see that."

"Did…your dad do it?" he asked. Laura's eyes dropped to the ground. "He did it, didn't he? Laura, you have to tell someone."

"One person knowing is enough," Laura said. He walked up to her. She looked at him questionably but got her answer when his arms wrapped about her. She hugged him tightly. "Promise me you won't tell anyone."

"I…wish I could do something," he said, releasing her. His face was slightly red, she noticed.

"I appreciate that," she said, "but that's life."

"What are you doing in here?" demanded a stern voice.

Brandon whirled around, surprised. Coach Kapatry stood there, every four feet and seven inches of her. She had her arms akimbo and an almost-scowl on her face.

"Uh, I came to give you this," he said.

"Ah," she said, grabbing it. "Thanks, kiddo. Lauren, what are you still doing here? You were dismissed almost fifteen minutes ago."

"Sorry," Lauren said, gathering up her stuff. "See you later, Brandon." She walked out the door. Brandon quickly left when the teacher gave him a look.

(later that day)

Brandon pedaled into Garret's front yard and jumped off his bike, letting it drop. Vincent was sitting on the porch, sunglasses his only disguise. "What are you doing out in sunlight?" he asked.

"Sephiroth has some allies, apparently," Vincent said.

"Like the guy in the cloak I told you about?" Brandon asked.

"Sort of," he said. "Talk to Yuffie about it."

Brandon passed Vincent and went inside. Yuffie was sitting on the coach, looking abnormally…unhappy. When she looked up, he didn't see her usual smile. Garret was sitting beside her, watching the news.

"Look at this, man," Garret told him. Brandon sat on the other coach. They were talking about the "crazy game-killer". "I've told 'em a thousand times that Sephiroth is Steven, but they don't even have that on here. They said nothin' about Tif gettin' kidnapped or all the attacks on us. It's all bull."

"They're trying to settle people down," Tiffany said, coming in from the kitchen. She tossed Cloud a soda. "Do you want people panicking?"

"Well, they need to know," Garret grumbled.

"What happened to you, Yuffie?" Brandon asked.

Yuffie looked up and told him everything. Brandon was surprised and shook his head. "No way," he said. "Reno's…one of them?"

"He tried to protect me," Yuffie said.

"It said in the news that that bald guy that was shootin' at you is dead," Garret said, pointing at the TV. "Reno's on the run, like Vincent."

"He's part of a group of assassins, kidnappers, etc. called the Turks," Vincent informed them, walking in. "They're currently working for Sephiroth. He called me just a second ago. They believed him when he said Rude was trying to kill him."

"Is he still going to work for Sephiroth?" Brandon asked.

"No," Vincent said. "He wants to help us. Actually, it's more like he wants to help Yuffie. We have an informant now."

"Awright!" Garret said. "No more runnin' around in the dark."

"Where's Laura?" Brandon asked. "Is she coming over?"

"I tried to call, but she wouldn't pick up," Tiffany said. "Does anyone know where she lives?"

"I do," Brandon said. "I'll go get her." He was rather nervous about going to Laura's house and being near her dad, but he was also hoping he could confront him. People weren't supposed to do what he did. He had a handgun on him just in case.

After several minutes, he came onto the road that led to Laura's house. That was when he caught sight of a column of smoke. His eyes widened, and he pedaled faster. No way. That couldn't be her house.

He began to hear sirens coming from far down the road as he neared her house. Finally, he turned around a corner and saw it. It was completely ablaze, and people were crowded about at a safe distance. He jumped off his bike and asked someone, "Is anyone still in there?"

"Yeah, a girl and her father. The mom is in the hospital," said the person. Brandon barely registered what he said before he took off towards the house. A couple of people tried to stop him, but he was determined. He grabbed the doorknob and yanked his hand back when it burned him. Instead, he raised his foot and kicked down the door.

"Laura!" he shouted into the roaring fire inside the house. There was no answer. He covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve before running inside. "Laura!" He began to cough as he walked quickly through the burning living room. It took three kicks to knock down the door to a hallway. He flinched as fire flared up, reaching out at him. It was too hot. He wasn't going to be able to…

"Brandon!" He looked up and saw Laura amongst the flames, trying to push a fallen beam away from a door. It was hot and burning her hands. "Help me."

Brandon closed his eyes and rushed through the fire. It hurt him, but he needed to help Laura. Together, they pushed aside the beam. Laura was the one to kick down this door. She ran in with no regard to the fire and crouched beside a fallen man. Brandon helped her pat out the fire on the man, and they helped him up. He was unconscious. It was Laura's father.

They went out into the hall and tried to get into the living room. Intense heat forced them back. Brandon tried to stomp out some of the flames, but he was coughing so badly. The fire was creeping around them, and the heat was unbearable.

"Laura," he croaked, "we're not gonna make it."

"Don't-" Laura slumped under her father's arm. "Don't talk like that."

Brandon's leg caught on fire. He patted it out, tears coming to his eyes and streaming down at the smoke and pain. It was game over.

A jet of water suddenly shot through the front door and put out the fire. Without waiting, Brandon and Laura quickly ran out, carrying her father. A firefighter met them as soon as they came out and helped them over to an ambulance. Her father was very badly burned. He had to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

"Can we ride with him?" Laura asked quickly.

(later)

Brandon's mom was coming to pick him up, but both Laura's parents were already at the hospital. Her mother was suffering from lung cancer.

"My mom wanted to know if…you could let me stay over for a while," Laura said, wiping soot from her face.

"I'm sure they'd let you," Brandon said. "They have before." He pulled out his cell phone and called his mom.

"Yes, Cloud, what is it?" his mom asked.

"Well, Laura needs a place to stay," he said. "She was wondering-"

"Of course she can stay at our house," his mother interrupted. "I'll be there to pick you two up in a couple of minutes." His mother hung up. He sighed. "Why do people always hang up on me?" He looked up and smiled at Laura. "You can stay."

Laura smiled. They were standing outside the hospital. It was starting to get dark, and Laura was really tired. Brandon watched her out of the corner of his eye. Her father was men and beat her, but she still risked her life to go in and save him. Her green eyes were sad as she looked up at the sky.

"Thanks for coming in to help me," she said, giving him a small smile and adding, "bodyguard."

"Anytime," he said, smiling back.

_A/N: That's it for the one. Dude! I almost have forty reviews. Just one more…come one…Anyway, thanks, guys, for reviewing, and thanks for the suggestions. Brandon didn't exactly tell her father off, but he did get what was coming to him, from my point of view. Maybe it was a little harsh. Well, please review. I hope you liked this one._


	10. AVALANCHE

_A/N: Ten chapters and almost fifty reviews! This story is going strong. Augh! I just got Advent Children, and I was all excited. I saw Nanaki running, and then Reno popped up. He started talking Japanese! I was so frustrated! I don't have my DVD remote…augh…_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7. If I did, Advent Children wouldn't be in Japanese now would it? Damn foreign language…_

**Beeria**: There will be if I have any say in it. And I should, since this is my story. I felt sorry about writing about Laura's mom, though. Sigh.

**Teddy-the-Bear**: I know! Forty. It's unbelievable when I think back to the other stories with OC characters that I wrote. I'll try and slow down, but I do like to write. And, yeah, he got what was coming.

**bdsproductions**: Thanks. I love to hear stuff like that about my work. I call all anonymous people anonymous, but I'll make an exception this time. Oh, and you'll see about her old man.

**Princess of the Knight**: You had a bad weekend? I'm glad my stories are good enough to look forward to, then! My weekend was good because I finally got Advent Children. Yay!

**Ghost in the Mirror**: Thanks. Sure thing!

**AerithRosey**: I know. Hehe, I had fun writing that part. And I always take good suggestions unless it doesn't work with what I have planned. That's right! I have something planned now! I really tried to make that fire scene good. Her mom…well, I didn't want her hurt in the fire, but I wanted her out of the way.

**Chapter Ten **

Apparently, while Brandon was out, his parents had had a fight. His father suddenly apologized to his mother, they made up, and he asked her, jokingly, out on a date. Brandon sighed; his parents were weird.

"We'll be back after you two should be asleep," his father told him sternly. "You can invite over a few friends. In fact, I prefer that you do. I don't want you alone with a girl in the house like last time. You can order pizza and watch some movies, but go to bed around eleven, okay? And be nice. That girl's been through a lot."

"Of course," Brandon said, glancing at Laura. The kitchen and living room were attached. They were in the living room, and Laura was talking to his mother in the kitchen. Laura laughed at something his mother said, and Brandon smiled. He didn't like seeing her sad.

His father gripped his shoulder. "I know you like her, kid," he said, ruffling his son's hair. "You sure found a difficult girl to take care of." He looked up at his wife. "Hey, come on, Barbara."

His mother smiled at his father and said goodbye to the two kids. Immediately after they left, Brandon grabbed the phone and called Tiffany.

"What happened?" she asked as soon as she picked up. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine," Brandon said. "We'll tell you everything later, but I was wondering if you and the others could come over to my house."

"Sure," she said. "Garret and Yuffie will be able to go, but I'm not sure if Vincent will. Reno definitely can't. It'd be too dangerous."

Brandon agreed and said goodbye. "They'll be here pretty soon. We might as well order pizza," he said. "No throwing pepperoni at me this time."

"Brandon," Laura said, "there's something I have to admit. I saw…some guy catching my house on fire. It was arson."

Brandon stared at her, surprised. "Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked. "Was it Sephiroth?"

"It was some man in a black suit," Laura said, shaking her head. "He had long hair, but it was black."

"It might be someone working for Sephiroth," Brandon said. "Hold on, I'll go get my gun."

Laura looked at the ground as he ran up the stairs. The police weren't doing anything, and Brandon seemed to want to take it all upon his own shoulder. She shouldn't have told him about the arson.

Someone knocked on the back door. They exchanged looks and Brandon cocked his gun before walking towards the door. When he opened the door, he saw Reno. The wind was blowing fiercely outside and it was beginning to drizzle. Brandon lowered his gun slightly and looked at Reno curiously.

"Sephiroth's planning on attacking you guys tonight. He has your phones bugged. He knows about you guys gathering," he said. "Tseng was outside, keeping an eye on you guys, but he just left."

"How's he going to attack?" Brandon asked.

"Tell Garret to get Jessie when he comes here. Tseng just put a bomb in your basement," Reno said. "I have to go now; before _he_ finds out I'm here."

Brandon nodded in understanding and watched as Reno ran off into the night. He closed the door and looked at Laura. "I'll find the bomb," he said. "Can you tell Garret?"

Laura nodded and watched him run off to the basement. A couple of minutes later, Garret pulled into the driveway. Laura ran outside and told him. He cussed and got back in his car. Tiffany, Vincent, and Yuffie got out and went inside. Laura led them to the basement.

Brandon looked up when the door opened and went back to pushing aside boxes and other stuff to find the bomb. Finally, he found it under a light box filled with his old toys. It was on ten minutes and counting down.

"Oh, God," Tiffany said.

"Reno said something about a girl named Jessie," Brandon said. "Does anyone know who that is?"

"She works for a secret organization," Vincent said. "Her job is making bombs, and she's very good at it."

"What kind of organization?" Brandon asked.

"Something called AVALANCHE," Vincent said. He sighed. "I have some explaining to do.

"Rufus was Shinra's son. He used to own the Turks, but, apparently, Sephiroth does. Rufus's father does more than you think," Vincent said. "Shinra does many illegal things for money, and Hojo's his second-in-command. Ms. Jenova used to be a doctor, and she hated Shinra for selling drugs to people. (Ironic, eh?)

"She was low on cash, however, and had to sell her game to someone. Shinra promised a ton of money. She never got a cent of it. Rufus tried to kill Ms. Jenova, and his attempt at assassination put her on her death bed and him in jail.

"Steven, or Sephiroth, was sent to jail for trying to murder Shinra. He killed Rufus instead and apparently managed to escape by faking death. I don't know how. He then killed Cid, and that's how I got in jail."

"But what about AVALANCHE?" Yuffie asked.

"He's getting to that," Tiffany said.

"AVALANCHE is an organization that used to be part of Shinra's organization called SOLDIER, but they split up when they began to disagree about several things," Vincent explained. "Now AVALANCHE wants SOLDIER dead. Sephiroth's bound to get in the way, though, because he wants SOLDIER dead by his hands. SOLDIER, the Shinra Co., us, and every last player of FF7."

"So, pretty much, we just got caught between a huge "gang" war and Sephiroth's revenge?" Brandon said. Vincent nodded.

"I think we should join AVALANCHE, then," Tiffany said.

"Yeah," Yuffie agreed enthusiastically.

"So many people involved with FF7 are turning up dead," Laura said. "I agree with you. We need to target SOLDIER and Shinra Co., and AVALANCHE is the best organization to go to."

"Ask Garret about it," Vincent said. "He's their leader."

"What?" Brandon demanded. "Why doesn't he tell us anything?"

"He probably wants to protect us," Tiffany said. "Don't be so hard on him."

Brandon looked at the bomb. Eight minutes remained. "What's taking him so long?" he asked aloud.

Laura sat next to him on the ground. He looked at her and sighed. "I need to calm down, huh?" he said.

"You figured it out on your own," she said with a smile.

They sat around, occasionally glancing at the bomb. It read seven minutes…then six…then five…then four…then three…then two…They were started to panic. What if it blew sky high while Garret was still out?

Garret suddenly burst through the door to the basement and barreled down to them, a young woman in her twenties behind him. She immediately began to examine the bomb. The look of surprise on her face startled them.

"That's weird…" she said. "Hey, Garret, look at-"

"No time for that Jessie," Garret said. "Just deactivate the damn thing."

Jessie went to work. They watched the seconds count down, but it turned off all of a sudden. She smirked, wiping off her hands.

"Now what're you talkin' about?" Garret asked.

"This thing…is one of my own models that I keep at the base," Jessie said. "It went missing a couple of days ago. If Sephiroth can infiltrate our base, we have trouble, plain and simple."

Garret scowled. "Tell Wedge to beef up security," he said. "There's no way he's gettin' through again."

Jessie nodded and left the basement. Garret turned to look at his friends. "I guess you got a lot of questions, huh?" he said.

"Vincent pretty much answered everything," Brandon said.

Garret looked at Vincent. "Why're you so well-informed?"

"I used to be part of the Turks," he said, looking off to the side.

"We're going to join AVALANCHE," Yuffie said, bouncing up.

Garret looked around. "All of ya?" he asked. Everyone nodded. He punched Brandon on the shoulder. "That means you and your spiky ass gotta listen."

Brandon smirked. "As long as you promise to tell us everything when it comes up," he said.

"It's a deal," Garret said with a nod. "Now let's get our asses up to the livin' room. Where's my damn pizza?"

(later that night)

It had been fun, but all good things must come to an end. His parents came home, interrupting what could've been a particularly devastating pillow fight between Garret and Yuffie. Garret drove them all home, waving away his parents' thanks. Soon, it was just Laura and Brandon in the living room, his parents upstairs in their room.

Laura laughed at the movie they were watching. His parents had bad taste. She wasn't laughing at the joke but the stupidity of the whole thing. It was supposed to be serious, but that's what made it more ridiculous.

"I'm going to get on the computer," Brandon informed her. Laura nodded without moving her eyes from the TV. With a shrug, Brandon stood and went up to his room.

Cloud ran across the barren valley region. No one was online there. He doubted they would be this late. That explained his surprise when he saw a figure in the distance. Thinking it might be one of Sephiroth's lackeys, Cloud rushed up. The ground suddenly rushed up under him, and he was lifted high above the ground, cursing. He hadn't yet raised enough gil to buy any materia, the source of many fighters' magic. This bastard had an advantage.

The column of earth kept rising. Cloud just jumped off and pulled out his blade, falling toward his opponent. Sure enough, the person was wearing a black cloak. This one had his hood pulled down, revealing very light eyes and fiery, spiked hair. He put his hand flat on the ground and pulled a huge stone shield out of the earth just in time to block his attack.

Cloud chipped away at his opponent's shield, but all he did was block. The thing was so big; it concealed his body from Cloud's view. Finally, Cloud lunged forward, slammed into the shield, and knocked his opponent down. When he kicked away the shield to finish him off, the guy sunk into the earth. A message popped up. He removed his helmet to look at it.

"Sephiroth will meet you tomorrow was eight for a match. Do you accept?"

Brandon stared at the screen, his hands flexing over his keyboard. He began to type his answer.

"No!" Laura said from his doorway. He clicked enter before he could stop himself and looked into her wide green eyes. The suddenly narrowed and she shook her head, her ponytail moving back and forth. She took off out of the room and down the stairs. Before he could catch up, she was out the door and in her jeep. Brandon grabbed his bike and pedaled after the fading twin lights at the back of her jeep.

**Sephiroth's POV**

Sephiroth waited impatiently for Cloud's answer. The computer he stood before had a huge screen, bigger and wider than he was tall. The keyboard stretched halfway around the screen, made up of keys no other keyboard would have.

He smirked when he saw Cloud's acceptance of the challenge. There was a muffled yell behind him. He glanced back at Reno's fiercely burning eyes. His mouth was covered by duct tape and his arms and legs were bound by tightly tied ropes.

"Don't worry, Jacob," Sephiroth said, turning back to the screen. "I'll finish you right after I'm done with your precious friends and your girlfriend." Reno's eyes lowered and he drooped. He was done struggling. This was not good.

_A/N: All right, that's it with my tenth chapter. What'd you think? I always welcome comments and suggestions. Please review. By the way, I got my damned remote and watched the movie. It was totally worth the frustration. _


	11. Yep, Cloud's Stupid Sometimes

_A/N: Ahaha! Fifty reviews! Holy spit! Thanks, guys! Please keep it up. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh well..._

**Teddy-the-Bear**: Huh. I coulda sworn I saw Tseng and Elena near the end. Um, never mind. Yeah, Brand's kinda more pathetic than Cloud is in the game, but, then again, he's a hormonal teen in love. Yeah, they did turn out cool. No! I remember now. Tseng and Elena used nets to secure Rufus, right? I'll look at it.

**Bdsproductions**: I didn't have a remote, but now I do, and I watched that bad boy. It was great! I'm glad Sephy came off as evil in this. Your main bad guy has gotta be bad, right? I'm glad the characters came off right. Thanks for reviewing.

**AerithRosey**: Ha, no fluff for you. I think I inflated Brandon's ego and put his confidence down the drain. Bad combination. You'll never know what happens. Mwahaha…unless you, like, read below.

**Ghost in the Mirror**: Me and my cliffhangers. For shame.

**Beeria**: Ah, so you saw that in Jessie, too! I was hoping it wasn't just me. I hope I don't disappoint.

**Raitokage**: Yep, I try to keep to what I say. And, yeah, I was talking about Advent Children. It took me a bit to figure out where to insert AVALANCHE.

**Princess of the Knight**: I'll do my best, but the only times I can get on now are when people are sleeping where the computer is. Problem. Sigh.

**Chapter Eleven **

It took several moments for Brandon's frantic mind to realize it was futile chasing after Laura on his bike and shorter to realize he was lost. He pulled his gun out of his pocket just in case and pulled out his phone. He was just about to dial Laura's number when he heard bushes rustle. He pointed his gun at the bush and almost shot when something jumped out at him.

A cat ran off away from him, and he clutched his gun hand to his quickly beating heart. Sephiroth had to go.

Brandon was just about try to call her again when he lowered his head over his phone. There was no way she'd forgive him for breaking their promise. He turned his bike around, found a familiar road, and made it back to his house. She had to come back sometime. He just hoped it was soon.

**Garret's POV** (next morning)

There were several gunshots up ahead. Garret placed his hand near the small gun he had hidden and ran ahead. Sure enough, two people in suits stood there, shooting at a person as she ran, covering her head. "Turks," he growled. Garret recognized who their target was: Yuffie. He pulled out his gun, ignoring the people screaming and running around him, and aimed at the figures up ahead, their backs turned to him.

He hit one in the back, and he went down. He was already firing when the girl turned around. He missed, however, and she ducked down, grabbed her fellow Turk, and dragged him off to their black car. He got several bullet holes in the car, but it got away safely.

Once she wasn't being shot at, Yuffie turned around and grinned at him. "Nice save," she congratulated cheerfully as if her life hadn't just been threatened.

"Have ya heard from Reno?" Garret asked her, making sure the Turks didn't come back.

Yuffie's grin slightly faded, and she shook her head. "The Turks are going after me more, for some reason," she said. "They tried to attack me before, but I managed to hide"- she grimaced- "in a dumpster."

A police car pulled up. "Humph," Yuffie said, "about time."

"Sometimes, ya gotta make sacrifices," he said, greeting the officer when he came up. Another police car pulled up behind his.

"Everything all right?" the officer asked. Garret looked at him strangely. It was the same officer who questioned him before.

"Yeah," Garret said. "Some guys were chasing this girl. I think they said something about 'Steven' or 'Sephiroth'."

The officer nodded. "Come with me, you two."

**Brandon's POV**

Brandon tried calling Garret the next morning at around ten, but his friend didn't pick up. He got hold of Tiffany, however.

"What's wrong?" she asked when she heard his slightly panicked voice.

"Laura's missing," he said.

"Have you called anyone yet?" she asked, sounding worried.

"Only Garret, but he didn't answer. Listen, I got her mad. There's a chance she's just hiding out somewhere," Brandon said. He'd been out looking for her for over two hours already.

"All right," Tiffany said. She still sounded afraid for Laura. "Garret and Yuffie got into some trouble earlier, and Vincent can't go out. That just leaves the two of us."

"And we don't have cars," Brandon grumbled. "I'll take the north part of town." He hung up after she gave an affirmative and got on his bike, making sure to hide his gun on him and bring his cell phone in case she called.

The first place Brandon went was the hospital. He went in and asked the receptionist where Mrs. Matthews was. The receptionist looked into it and finally said, "She's in critical condition right now and cannot be visited. Her cancer is terminal."

Brandon shook his head. "I don't know what that means," he said.

"That means…she will not survive," the woman said.

His hands began to shake. "What about Mr. Matthews?" he asked.

"He's not here," the woman said, giving him a look of pity.

Brandon frowned. "But…I came to the hospital with him-"

"I'm sorry," the woman said. "He…passed on last night."

"H-has a girl around m-my age come in to ch-check on her?" he asked, his voice shaking. He wanted to be there for her.

"Yes," the woman said, obviously trying to think back. "She ran out without giving her name."

He searched until his bike's wheel burst. Then he went on aching feet. Tiffany called several times to fill him in on where she'd looked. Finally, at two, she gave up and went home. Brandon still stayed out, his eyes watering from the cold winds that blew. It was into winter, and the sky looked stormy.

At four, it began to drizzle. That turned to snow. He rubbed his bare arms. He was wearing a t-shirt and torn jeans- not that much protection against chill.

His phone rang. He quickly opened it, praying to hear the beautiful voice of-

"Yo, spiky, we just got out of the police station, and Jessie called about a job we could do," Garret shouted loudly. "Yuffie's with me, and I'm going to pick up Tiffany. Where you at?"

"Near the oldest food store," he replied wearily.

"Did you find Laura? Tif filled us in," Garret asked.

"No," Brandon replied with a sigh.

"That's too bad, man," Garret said. "You in?"

"For the job? Yeah, whatever," Brandon said. "Laura obviously doesn't wanna come back. I just…gotta be back at eight."

"Stay near the store," Garret ordered and hung up.

With another sigh, Brandon sat on the curb, downcast. Laura had become the closest person to him. How could he be so stupid to ruin that friendship?

A few minutes later, a van pulled up. Brandon watched a sliding door open before Yuffie pulled him in by the front of his shirt. She tossed him a cool-looking pistol. Brandon looked it over as Garret pulled the door shut and Jessie took off.

"That's a Colt ACE Model," Garret said, gleefully looking over his assortment of guns in the back.

There were no seats where Yuffie, Tiffany, and Brandon were so they had to grab the gun cases before the slid to the back. Garret and Jessie sat in the only seats in the front.

"Here, hand it over," Garret said. "Yuffie, give me the ammo. I'll show you how to load it."

"Where's Vincent?" Brandon asked Tiffany.

The brunette shook her head. "He's still hurting, Brand. None of us would let him go," she said. "Besides, think of what would happen if the police caught us."

Yuffie passed around guns. Along with the pistol, Brandon got an assault rifle. Garret was satisfied with just a shotgun. Tiffany chose two handguns she didn't even look at before she grabbed some Kevlar vests. Yuffie was the last to choose. She grabbed a .357 Magnum based on how cool it looked.

"Where's Sephiroth showing up, anyway?" Brandon asked, taking off his shirt and putting the vest on. He didn't catch Tiffany look at him twice before he pulled his baggy shirt back on.

"A weapons warehouse," Jessie told him. "I'll take out the guards in the back and use a bomb for distraction. You guys get in fast and wait for Steven. Wedge and a couple others will rob a nearby bank to mislead the police."

"Great," Yuffie said. "I got dibs on the smoke bombs."

They soon pulled up to a building near the warehouse. They distributed walkie-talkies, and Jessie went all the way up the stairs to the building's roof. Brandon, Tiffany, Yuffie, and Garret snuck over near the warehouse under cover of the thickening falling snow.

They looked at the back of the warehouse, watching for Jessie to take out the guards, when they saw that there were no guards. When they crept up, they saw that the watchmen had bullets in their heads and chests.

"Jessie," Garret said into his walkie-talkie. Brandon thought it was funny that they only had four of the damn things to split between Jessie and them, leaving Yuffie and Tiffany without communication in the worst situations.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Get to the roof and take a look at this," Garret ordered.

A few moments later, she said, "That's not good. Reno said-"

Yuffie grabbed Garret's walkie-talkie. "Reno?" she asked.

"Yes," Jessie said. "He had to sneak the information. Sephiroth apparently found out about his alliance with you guys."

"Is he okay?" Yuffie asked, worried.

"He was hurt but still alive," Jessie replied.

Brandon frowned when he saw the look on Yuffie's face. She pulled her .357 from her pocket and looked with fiery eyes at the warehouse. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. Things were getting too harsh. Sephiroth…If Sephiroth was gone, they'd be just fine. He grabbed his assault rifle tightly.

"What's the plan?" Tiffany asked Garret. Everyone looked at him.

Garret raged, waving his arms and stomping his feet. "The hell're y'all lookin' at me for? Get your asses in the damn warehouse and blast the shit out of that bastard!" he shouted a little too loudly.

They pulled on ski masks and snuck into the dark building, looking around carefully. Boxes of weaponry pilled around them just proved how careful they needed to be. Sephiroth might or might not be in the warehouse with the Turks. The police might or might not be in the building with SWAT.

Brandon began to realize how much trouble he could get in a little after he stepped over the dead bodies of the guards. He pointed his assault rifle at every shadow and held his finger on his trigger, praying Sephiroth didn't have Laura. If he did, Brand didn't know what he'd do.

When they reached the middle of the dark warehouse, they saw him. His back was turned to them, and his gun was pointed down at some guard he'd dragged from the back, by the trail of smeared blood. He pulled the trigger and, with a "pop, pop, pop" the guy's head fell with a bloody smack to the ground.

Without waiting for anyone, Brand charged forward and began to fire at Sephiroth. In his rage, only one bullet came close enough to Sephiroth. It barely scraped his arm as he jumped behind some boxes.

Garret jerked him back behind their own box cover before Brandon could be fired upon or hit something explosive. Sephiroth had no such qualms. He filled the boxes the four of them hid behind with bullets.

Garret stuck his gun out and fired at Sephiroth with his shotgun. He missed, but Sephiroth's bullet went straight through his arm. He yelled out in pain and quickly jerked his arm back. When that made him hurt his older bullet wound, he hissed in pain. Yuffie snuck Garret's walkie-talkie from his back pocket.

"Ya think you can make that bomb blow up near the front of the warehouse?" she asked over the bullets.

"Wedge will have it placed in a couple of minutes. I'll tell you when to run," was Jessie's reply.

"Over and out," Yuffie said, tossing his walkie-talkie over her shoulder and climbing lithely up the boxes. She got to the top and shot at Sephiroth.

Brandon watched the surprise bullet hit the corrupt man. He didn't see where, but Sephiroth jerked and glared vehemently up at Yuffie.

"Yuffie, jump down!" Brandon said, taking a few steps back and holding up his arms. A barrage of bullets suddenly came at her, and she began to fall backwards. He barely caught her and made sure she was fine before setting her down.

Tiffany raced out into the open, running sideways as she'd seen them do in movies. Her bullets made Sephiroth dodge for cover but separated her from the rest.

Seeing her do so, Brandon fired his assault rifle and joined her. Before he left them he told Yuffie, "Stay with Garret." The little teenager grumbled but didn't move.

Sephiroth went up a ladder, and their bullets somehow missed. Garret was the only one priding himself on gun skills. Sephiroth got up on a high platform above them, made for storing the best weapons.

Brandon and Tiffany quickly began to climb up in case he grabbed some grenades or something. As soon as they got up, Sephiroth fire at them, nearly making Brandon fall to the ground below. Tiffany's guns saved him, however, and his added assault rifle made Sephiroth run for it. He'd been hit by at least five bullets, and Brandon wasn't about to show pity.

"Run for it," Jessie's voice suddenly said from the walkie-talkie in Brand's pocket. He tried to grab it to tell her not to fire when Sephiroth's bullet hit the stupid thing. He threw it over the edge and looked for some kind of cover. Tiffany tugged him behind some boxes and tried to call Jessie on her cell phone.

**Yuffie's POV**

Below the two, Yuffie tried desperately to find the walkie-talkie. She tossed ammo and gun after gun over her shoulders, usually hitting the wounded Garret, but to no avail. She cursed and stomped her foot on the ground. "They're stuck up there, Jessie!" she shouted vainly.

A loud explosion cut off the last of her sentence. She flew backwards from the force, heavy boxes falling on her.

**Tiffany's POV**

Up above, Tiffany and Brandon were fighting to keep her balance. Sephiroth's body had seemingly been consumed by the blast, but Brandon doubted that roach would be killed so easily. That thought was in his head when he fell off the platform and grabbed a cord.

Tiffany looked down at him as soon as she caught her balance. Her forehead had been bashed open and blood seeped down it. The fire's light cast shadows over her horrified face. The cord was beginning to snap…

A helicopter suddenly came to the hole in the wall caused by the explosion. Even some of the ceiling has been blown away. A ladder dropped down beside Brandon, and he leapt to it.

Tiffany grabbed it as well, hesitating until she saw the van burst through the fire starting near the ground. Jessie and Wedge were in the front seats. But who was that in the helicopter…?

A man she didn't know was in the pilot's seat. Brandon was chatting with him, however. He looked at her with those big, beautiful eyes that made her melt inside before he introduced them.

"This is Biggs, a friend of Laura's…late father," he said. "He's also, apparently, a member of AVALANCHE."

Biggs grinned and greeted her before paying attention to his flying. "Small world, huh?" he said distantly.

**John Dickams' POV **(Hehe…Dickams. No, you don't know this guy.)

John was a detective. He looked at the debris from the explosion and shook his head. There were a few police officers around to investigate.

Dickams had been told about the explosion. He yawned at how late it was and began to sift through some halfway burned boxes. He moved one aside and saw the face of a man. "Found one. He's unconscious," he announced. A second later, he let out a choked sound as the "unconscious" guy grabbed his throat.

The man stood, still gripping John's throat and ignoring the officers who told him to "freeze" and "don't move". The reason came to John quick enough when some of their own shot them to death.

John began to wriggle and grabbed the man's hand around his throat, his face turning red at the lack of oxygen. He was going to die.

The female officer began to take the police uniform over her suit off and the man with long black hair tossed the formerly unconscious one a dead officer's gun. With a smirk on his face, the evil man with silver hair put the gun to John's blue face and pulled the trigger.

_A/N: Phew! That was a long one! Sorry it took so long. The computer is in my parent's room, and, since my step dad works during the night, well, you know. Anyway, send any good Cleris or Clerith fanfics my way, and I'll be a very happy author. Love y'all. Please review. Oh, and I'm into Yuffie and Leon ones now. Hee…_


	12. WE Won! Together

_A/N: Over…sixty…reviews! I love you guys!_

**Princess of the Knight**: No worries, I think you will find out in this chapter.

**AerithRosey**: Yep, no fluff for you. I'll try to put some more in soon. Laura's…well, she's out somewhere. I'll tell ya that.

**bdsproductions**: Yep, he's dead. Believe the receptionist! I sorta have something planned. You'll see. Best page turner? Cool! I'm glad someone appreciates my work (coughcoughnon-reviewerscough… Just kidding)

**Beeria**: For real! It isn't right or fair! They've done a lot more unreal things before. Can't we just have this one thing? About Laura…you'll see. As for Sephiroth, he'll get what's coming to him.

**Teddy-the-Bear**: Yeah. Sephy got killed and he got brought back. Why can't Aeris? …sniffle…I could swear I saw Tseng and Elena…yeah, I'm positive. Vincent said they'd have to see…he never said they were dead…

**Ghost in the Mirror**: Aw, poor you. It's the thought that counts!

**Fantasy**: Hey, a new reviewer! I'm glad you like my story. Sorry for the wait, but my parents are getting difficult and testy.

**scarlettHuntress**: Another new reviewer! I can't say no to a nice Leon and Cloud or Riku and Sora pairing myself. I'm glad you'll make an exception, though.

**Chapter Twelve**

Garret sat in a room at AVALANCHE headquarters. The headquarters were in the basement of Biggs's bar, the Blue Bahamut (Woot!). Jessie, Wedge, and Garret's friends were all sitting in front of a TV on the couch or ground, watching the warehouse explode. Jessie looked proud, as if it the bomb had been her baby.

"That was the scene tonight, folks. The explosion was caused by a bomb definitely made by the terrorist group AVALANCHE. They'd long been thought dormant-" The reporter was cut off when Garret turned off the TV.

"Hey!" Yuffie said, turning the TV back on. "We're trying to see if Sephiroth survived or not!"

Garret winced and held his bandaged wound before replying. "Of course he's dead! Didn't you see the explosion?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Duh," she scoffed.

"Let's watch this," Tiffany said.

Brandon was the only one missing. Therefore, as he sat in front of the huge computer Jessie used to calculate all the math needed for her job, he didn't hear what they heard. He was looking for Laura, completely unconcerned about the man he thought dead. Chances were pretty slim, but he prayed she'd show up.

At eight thirty, he saw something he'd really not been expecting.

"You're late," came up on his screen.

"Brandon," Vincent said, coming into the room. "Sephiroth's still-" He stared at the screen with his red eyes.

"Still alive," Brandon said. "I know." Sephiroth stood before him in virtual reality, brandishing his sword.

Jessie suddenly ran past Vincent and pushed Brandon and his chair aside. She began frantically typing away at the computer, pulling up new screens and clicking things. Finally, she said, "We're tracking him. I'll keep linked to this computer by my laptop. You just keep him distracted long enough for us to find him," she said, running out of the room again.

Cloud didn't hear her tell the others. The fight had started. Vincent watched the screen.

Sephiroth slashed at Cloud left and right, but Cloud somehow managed to slip through his attacks. He was about to swing his huge sword at Sephiroth while he was distracted, but he nearly got his virtual ass smeared across the beach region when he realized Sephiroth was only bluffing. Sephiroth brought his long sword up and then down at Cloud.

Cloud managed to jump aside and dodge much of the attack, but Sephiroth had activated his materia. A blast of wind blew him ten feet away and wiped out a big chunk of his life points. He rolled back up to his feet and looked around frantically. Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, he felt a blast of wind blow on his back. Sephiroth kicked him hard and sent him sprawling out on the sand. He rolled several times to his left to avoid the evil man's sword.

Cloud got up and ran towards a palm tree, an idea forming in his head. Sephiroth chased him with far greater speed, but Cloud reached the tree before he reached him. He began to run up it like in action movies.

Sephiroth jumped up to slash at him, but he surprised him by kicking off the tree and barreling into him. They both went flying five feet into the air until Sephiroth pushed Cloud off him and slashed down.

Cloud hit the ground, red electricity seemingly consuming him. It was Sephiroth's materia. He looked up from watching Cloud struggling to hold his hands up to the sky. A green static appeared around him, but it didn't hurt. He gained the life points Cloud lost, not that he'd lost any points.

"If I calculated correctly," Sephiroth said, looking back down at Cloud, "you've lost over half your life points."

Cloud buried the tip of his sword in the sand and pulled himself up. He then pulled the sword out and pointed its tip at Sephiroth. "A lot worse is going to happen to you," he said vehemently.

"Is that so?" Sephiroth asked, raising his sword and touching its tip to Cloud's from several feet away (like in KH). "Prove it."

Cloud suddenly began to glow. He watched his status change drastically. His health was restored, and his strength and defense went up exponentially. That could only mean one thing.

"Aeris?" Cloud said, looking around for her. Further down the beach, she was running towards them.

Sephiroth hacked at Cloud's waist, but he didn't follow when Cloud flipped out of the way and landed on his feet a few feet away.

Sephiroth smirked. "You're her guardian." He turned to Aeris and held up his hand. It began to glow red and burned straight through his glove.

"Get down!" Cloud shouted before charging and swinging his blade at Sephiroth. To both swordsmen's surprise, the attack connected, hitting him in the back and making him lose concentration. A wave of heat rushed over Cloud, and the blast soared into the sky.

Sephiroth hit Cloud's sword, forcing him back. Both jumped backwards, away from each other. Sephiroth raised his hand to the sky, which suddenly became stormy as clouds rolled in above them.

Cloud was about to rush to attack, but a bolt of lightning shot down and struck Sephiroth's raised hand. He was forced to jump back to a safe distance- or, at least, that's what he thought. When he landed ankle-deep in the ocean, he almost cussed.

Sephiroth lowered his hand, palm out to Cloud. He was forced to roll, jump, and duck away from a rapid barrage of electricity. When one actually hit him, he was surprised at how much the defense boost helped.

Finally, when Cloud saw what he was sure was the last bolt, he leapt over it and raised his sword above his head. Sephiroth somehow managed to block it and shove him backwards.

Sephiroth kept Cloud on his toes (I wrote this down and let my friend read it before I typed it out. She could swear I wrote hoes and not toes…) and slashed nonstop. Cloud was forced back to the water. When one attack cut open his chest and took out some of his life points, Aeris shouted his name.

Cloud jumped onto Sephiroth's blade as it came at him and jumped high over his head. Aeris threw something to him, and it sparkled in the little sunlight spilling through spaces between the receding storm clouds. He grabbed it in midair and shoved it into his arm.

Sephiroth rushed Cloud, slashing at him with his sword. Before the virtual metal could connect, Cloud vanished into thin air. Sephiroth slid to a stop. His searching eyes revealed Aeris was missing, too. That could only mean-

A huge, serpent-like creature rose from the sea. Water suddenly came up and floated around it, as if it was dancing. It opened its maw and let out a loud, piercing shriek. A huge tidal wave suddenly rose up behind it.

Sephiroth raised his hand to the stormy clouds above. Just as the wave struck him, a bolt of lightning shot from the sky. (Cuz it looked cool in my head)

Cloud reappeared and looked around frantically. Sephiroth…was gone. When the water pulled back into the sea and the serpent sank back down into the dark depths of the ocean, his body was nowhere to be seen.

He noticed his level went up by fifteen. He obviously shouldn't have been able to beat him. If Aeris hadn't…-Where was she?

"Aeris?" he called out, worried. There was no reply. "Where are-"

"Right here," she said from behind him. Cloud whirled around and hugged her.

"I-We won," he said, disbelieving.

"Yeah," she replied, smiling and pulling back from the hug.

"I'm sorry for-" Cloud let out an anguished shout of pain and alarm. Brandon grabbed his virtual reality helmet and tried to pull it off, but hooks inside it sunk deep into his head. A barrage of lights hit his eyes, causing him to panic. There was a piercing ringing sound in his ears. He felt like his head was going to split open.

Vincent pulled a knife from his pocket and rushed to Brandon's side as he fell from the chair to the ground. He stabbed into the metal helmet and pulled the blade through it towards him, successfully splitting open the helmet but also cutting a deep gouge from Brandon's hairline to the back of his head. He tore the helmet, hooks and all, from Brandon. The boy immediately clamped his hands over his eyes.

"Brandon," Vincent said, grabbed his wrist. "Brandon, let go." He slowly allowed Vincent to move his hands aside. At Vincent's command, he slowly opened his blue eyes.

Brandon saw him look at his eyes with a strange expression. It was pretty scary seeing the older man's normal neutral face contort in such a way. "Wh-what?" he asked nervously.

Vincent helped him up and led him wordlessly to what could be called AVALANCHE HQ's living room. Brandon glanced from Vincent to the mirror on the wall he obviously wanted him to look into. Finally, growing more and more nervous by the second, he stepped before the mirror.

There were four bloody holes all around his head from the hooks. The side of his head was cut open. It wasn't a pretty sight. The pain and blood loss was making him slightly dizzy and nauseated. It was very hard to focus. Finally, he was able to concentrate on what Vincent had been staring at: his eyes.

With a loud cry, Brandon leapt back from the mirror and tripped over the couch in his haste to get away. He landed with a crash on the floor and began to furiously rub at his eyes, but Vincent quickly made him stop.

"Wh-what is that? What does it mean?" Brandon asked the dark man.

Vincent shook his head. "It means you're now Sephiroth's top priority."

(later)

Garret and the others came back an hour after Laura came. Garret was about to storm and rage about Sephiroth when he saw her. Tiffany and Yuffie ran up to give her a hug or a pat on the shoulder. Brandon had told them what…happened to her parents.

"Where've you been?" Yuffie demanded. "You said you'd be back by yesterday!"

Everyone stared at Yuffie, who grinned sheepishly. "You knew where she was?" Tiffany asked.

"Don't be mad at her," Laura said, looking tired. "I made her promise not to tell."

"Hey, Brandon, could you go get me a sod-AH!" Yuffie said, staring at his head, wide-eyed.

Everyone looked at him now. He almost ran a hand through his hair nervously, but he quickly jerked it away when he realized how that'd feel.

"What happened?" Tiffany asked, concerned.

"I…fought Sephiroth in FF7…and won," Brandon said as if that'd explain everything. "Listen, I have to get home before my mom worries. It's 9:30."

"Here, spiky," Garret said, tossing him a bandana. "I know how your parents are."

"Shouldn't we bandage your head first?" Tiffany asked.

Jessie came in with a first aid kit and made him sit down before she went to work disinfecting and cleaning the blood and wounds on his head. Laura offered her hand to squeeze in case it hurt. It did.

Once he was done and had his bandana secured on his head, Vincent gave him some sunglasses, saying "They're my extra pair." He put them on and tried to ignore Garret's smirk and Yuffie's muffled laughter.

When Laura and Brandon finally got in her jeep and left, there was an awkward silence between them.

"I heard about the explosion," Laura said. "You guys did that?"

"Yeah," Brandon said bitterly. "We shot Sephiroth several times and blew up the side of the building he was in, but he's _still_ alive. How are we supposed to-?"

"Stop it," Laura cut him off. There was a hint of anger in her usually peaceful voice. She sighed and haphazardly slid around a corner. "Sorry. I'm just tired of losing hope."

"Where are you going to live?" Brandon asked quietly.

Laura was quiet for a long moment. She actually turned on her blinker before making a turn. Brandon stared at her. "Yuffie's dad is going to take me in. They lost her older sister and mother so he wants to fill in the empty space," she said just as quietly.

"I'm sorry," Brandon said, lowering his head. He couldn't help _anyone_.

"It's okay," she said, putting in a CD. Japanese pop music began to play. That seemed to calm her down a bit. They were quiet all the way to the house.

_A/N: So this isn't exactly my best ending. So I made you guys wait for my story. So I'm having the worst couple of weeks of my life. I'm still going strong. Sorry about the wait. Fate has decided to go against me. Fate won't hold this author down, though! I hope you guys still read my story and I thank the people who actually reviewed! Hope you liked it!_


	13. Cloud And Bandanas Don't Mix

_A/N: Get ready for some fluff. I'm not so good at it. Oh, also, I have a good idea about a Kingdom Hearts Squffie pairing. Keep your eyes peeled. _

**Beeria**: I know it's freaky, but it was the only way for me to get Cloud to have mako eyes. I mean, it wouldn't work if he could take off the helmet, right?

**Angelicxox**: I'm glad you do. I tried to make the fight good, even if Sephiroth went down so easily. Yeah, Laura's back. Who knows about their future? Well, I do, but you'll have to stick through to find out.

**Teddy-the-Bear**: Hellz yeah! His Omnislash is da bomb! Vincent is just prepared. After all, he is a wanted criminal.

**RoxasXNamine**: You reviewed again! I try to put in suspense. It's my thing, y'know?

**Bdsproductions**: Skimmed! Wow, you make me feel special…geez. Just kidding. The whole J-Pop thing was just because I like Hikaru Utada. And I felt he deserved been fried.

**scarlettHuntress**: Any suggestions? I was just bored with the whole toes bit. Also, the hooks in the helmet were my way of keeping said helmet on Brandon's spiky head.

**Princess of the Knight**: He might…or I could make it so everyone dies. Hehe…too bad I like happy endings so much. I'll do my best with the whole writing thing.

**Raitokage**: I knew it! Thanks for clearing that up. And I try to type fast. Of course, it is slowing down a bit now that my step father came back…

**Li the Twilight Knight**: It's cool that you didn't review as long as you read. I really like how this story is, too. It's almost like I'm just reading it as I type it. There's absolutely no foresight in this. I really wish the real world was like this, too. That would be totally awesome. If only I could have a KH adventure…Anyways, Sephiroth is going down for real soon. Who's going down with him, though? Thanks for reviewing.

**Chapter Thirteen**

When Laura walked into the house, she was immediately tackled with a hug. "Are you all right, dear?" Brandon's mother asked, releasing her. "Do you need anything?"

Laura glanced at Brandon. It was hard to tell where he was looking with those sunglasses on, but she could feel his gaze on her. It made a faint blush appear on her face. She knew he was worried, and, in a way, that made her feel better.

"No, I'm fine," she reassured her.

"Tell me yourself next time before you spend the night at someone's house, you hear?" she said.

Laura nodded again but slipped a thankful look to Brandon for the cover-up. One corner of his mouth lifting slightly was the only sign that he saw her.

"Did you guys eat yet?" Brandon's dad asked. He had apparently just prepared spaghetti. Brandon unhappily remembered the pile of buffalo wings Garret called dinner and nodded.

"What's with the bandana and sunglasses, Cloud?" his mother asked, giggling. The bandana hid the bandages and the sunglasses hid his artificially glowing eyes, which marked him as Sephiroth's target and also would bring up awkward questions.

"Thought I'd try a new look," he said, sighing inwardly.

Before his mother could say something potentially cutting, his father intervened. "You two get ready for bed," he said.

Once they were safely in his room, Brand asked, "Where've you been all this time? With Yuffie?"

"No," she replied. "I stayed at the church and prayed…for you guys and for my mother."

Not knowing what to say, Brandon busied himself with finding some pajamas.

"I got fired from my job," Laura said. "Let's do something tomorrow…with everyone."

"School's tomorrow," Brandon reminded her. (I honestly don't know what day it is in this. Tell me if you think it really matters. If you do, I'll try to focus.)

"We'll skip," Laura said with false cheer. "I'll go take a shower."

Laura grabbed the towel he tossed to her and left to change. He'd already taken a shower at HQ to wash away the blood and ash from the day. He lay on his bed, exhausted and drained. As soon as he closed his eyes, he was asleep.

**Laura's POV**

When Laura came back into Brandon's room, squeaky clean and wearing new pajamas, it was to find him asleep on the bed she'd started to think of as her own. She tried to careful remove him, but it was impossible to do so without waking him. She didn't want to do that; he deserved sleep.

Finally, Laura just turned off the light and crawled over him to lay down by the wall, dragging the blanket with her to cover him.

Her close proximity to Brandon made it extremely difficult to focus on sleep. She sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. He was just Brandon. She shouldn't have these troubles. He wasn't even her age…

Laura's eyes drifted over to Brandon's face. He still had the sunglasses and bandana on. Grinning, Laura saw how ridiculous it really did look. She pulled off the shades and the cloth and tossed them to the floor.

Without the distractions, she could see that he was almost smiling. He looked so very peaceful…and cute. Hair poked out from the bandages in his hair. She frowned as soon as he did. His eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head slightly. She saw him mouth what could only be "Sephiroth".

That was how all of this started. Sephiroth, FF7, fighting, killing…Laura was sick and tired of it. She closed her eyes and kept Brandon's image in her mind. Maybe, if she could just keep an image of him in her thoughts, she could bring him to her dreams, and they could stay there…safe.

**Cloud's POV**

Cloud walked down a long trail. He'd been walking for what seemed like forever, in the dark. It had been so cold. He looked up and his gaze rested on a shining figure. It was on its knees atop a tall platform and it was beautiful.

He began to run with energy he'd lost so long ago. He ran up the steps to her and felt the warmth and basked in the radiance that became stronger the closer he got. Finally, atop the platform, he saw the shining figure close up.

Aeris Gainsborough held her hands clasped before her, eyes closed. She was praying. A small, tranquil smile was on her face. When she heard his footsteps approaching, she opened her beautiful green eyes and looked at him, smile widening ever so slightly.

He took a step forward but stopped when a shadow fell upon her light. She didn't seem to notice. Cloud looked up and saw what the shadow was.

Sephiroth dropped from the sky, his enormous sword drawn. He fell towards Aeris and impaled her on his sword. Her beautiful eyes widened and said one last thing before her eyes closed and her light faded, gone forever. "Cloud…"

**Brandon's POV**

Brandon woke up, panting. There was sweat under his bandages, and it stung him, but he was concerned about that. He looked around frantically until his artificially glowing eyes rested on Laura. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, not wanting to ever let go. If he did…

She was smiling, like in his dream. Suddenly, she let out a small sigh. Her warm breath touched his lips, and he was startled at how close they were to hers. His eyes closed and he moved his face closer.

There was contact, and all thoughts of Sephiroth, guns, and fighting swept from his mind. It was like everything was going to be okay if he stayed like that…but then he realized what he was doing and quickly pushed away from her. He landed with a thud to the ground.

Laura poked her head sleepily over the side of the bed and rested her chin on the edge. Her drooping, amused eyes looked down at him on the floor. "Are you okay?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Brandon quickly told her, a blush creeping across his face. "I, uh, I had a nightmare." He wouldn't meet her eyes, but he could practically feel her frown.

"Fine," she said with an exaggerated sigh, "don't tell me." She rolled over, feigning hurt.

"Night," he said, trying to get comfortable on the floor.

"You can…sleep up here tonight," she suggested, rolling back over.

"You don't have to sleep on the floor," he mumbled, tired.

"Who said anything about the floor?"

(Friday)

School was finally over for another week. Brandon was sitting in HQ's training room, nursing a split lip and bloody knuckles thanks to the fight he'd just been in. If Garret hadn't intervened, he would've taken Nathan down. Garret was currently doing target practice with Vincent in the next room, and Tiffany was beating the crap out of the punching bag.

"When did you say Laura would be here?" Tiffany asked, sitting down on the couch parallel to his.

"She's visiting her mom, so it'll be a while," he replied, pulling on the beanie Laura got him. It covered the bandages nicely. (Hehe…Cloud and a beanie…)

The sliding doors to the room opened and Yuffie burst into the room, breathing heavily. She put her hands on her knees and caught her breath. Brandon's eyes rested on what was dripping from her hands to the floor. It was a sticky red substance…

"R-Reno," Yuffie panted. She took a deep breath and raised her head. Tears were streaming from her red eyes. "I-I found him."

(later)

"Oh, man," Brandon said, leaning against a building near the sealed off alley. A body bag was placed in an ambulance, and it took off.

Yuffie was crouched on the ground, her face buried in her knees. Her arms were shaking and wrapped around her legs.

Garret crossed his big arms over his chest, his eyes narrowed and his jaw set. He was obviously pissed. "This has Sephiroth written all over it. I'm gonna get him for this," he growled.

"Are you Brandon?" asked a voice. Brandon whirled around and faced a strange-looking man. He had a ponytail, khaki shorts, and a Hawaiian shirt.

"Yeah," Brandon said, frowning. He still wasn't over what had just happened.

The guy stuck out his hand and grinned. "I'm Seth Cait. I'm sure Vincent mentioned me?" he said.

"You're the guy who made the minigames in FF7," Brandon said.

"Yep, that's me," Seth said, grinning. "Uh, so that was Reno, huh?" He looked like he regretted that. "I tried to help him escape, but Sephiroth tried to kill me, and…well, you know." He sighed and shook his head.

"What do you want?" Garret demanded rudely.

"Sephiroth is on the move tonight," Seth said, "and I overheard where he's going to be."

"Where?" Tiffany asked.

"The cemetery at nine," Seth replied.

"What the hell would Sephiroth do in a cemetery?" Garret asked.

Seth shrugged.

"Sounds like a trap to me," Brandon said. He didn't notice the sharp look Seth cast him. "I think Sephiroth wants us to go there."

"To hell with your paranoia," Garret said, pulling a gun from his pocket. "We're gonna kill that bastard…tonight."

_A/N: Good news! The computer was moved into the living room! I can get on whenever. Bad news is I'm losing my muse with this story. Sorry for the wait. So many reviewed! I'm so glad. Thanks so much for your support. Please keep it up. _


	14. Cemetery Takedown!

_A/N: I got two reviews not even an hour after I posted chapter thirteen! Awesome! Also, there's a reason I took out Reno. I…just now realized it, though! If she's in love with Reno, she can't be with Squall in my sequel. Yep, there'll be a sequel. Suggestions for the sequel will be loved and greatly appreciated. All I know is that it's gonna be a Squffie. Holy spit! Look at all those reviews! I loves you guys!_

**bdsproductions**: Yeah. Too bad she wasn't…y'know, awake. He still doesn't realize she likes him back, even after she let him sleep in the same bed as her. Pshh. Anyways, thanks!

**Angelicxox**: Suspense, yes. They'll get together if it takes all of my creative juices! Which…I hope it doesn't. You'll find out about Seth soon. I felt bad for doing that, but it just came to me. I'll try to find Mr. Muse, but he's damn good at hiding.

**spirited angel1305**: Wow that was a…long review. Thanks, though.

**Li the Twilight Knight**: I'll think about it. And I was thinking of not putting him in there, but I will if you want. And I'll do my best, even if it means holding a gun to Mr. Muse's head. D:

**LadyLuck22**: No worries about updating anymore. There's just the problem with my muse.

**midori tsuki**: I can't write at all, huh? Gee, thanks. Well, I value all opinions so thanks for the review.

**Beeria**: Yeah, they are idiots. And I did my best with that whole sleeping scene. You liked it, huh?

**dave**: I'm glad you did. I really just write this for the satisfaction of myself and others.

**RoxasXNamine**: I know. I love Reno, too. But it had to be done! Yeah, my muse will come crawling back any second. I've had a loose grip on it all throughout this story, though.

**Princess of the Knight**: Yeah! He's gonna get his buns brutalized! I'll do my best with the story.

**Teddy-the-Bear**: I know! I'd kill for buffalo wings for dinner. Yeah, it really scared the stuffing out of Brandon and pushed him over the edge in his liking for Laura. And I knew he was Reeve. I asked my friend Boy Scout, but he was making it difficult for me, and I just put him as Seth Cait. Yeah, he's Seth Reeve Cait now. Phew.

**Chapter Fourteen**

Laura sighed and set the flowers on her mother's bedside table. The smile that had always been on her mother's face was replaced by a deeply set grimace.

"Do you need anything?" Laura asked. Her father's funeral was in a week, but her mother wasn't going to live long enough to attend it.

"No, that's okay," her mother said from behind the oxygen mask.

Laura was just about to sit down when her cell phone rang. She answered it with an exhausted "hello".

"Reno's dead," Brandon said immediately. "Seth Cait, one of the people who worked on FF7, said Sephiroth is going to be at the cemetery tonight at night. Garret wants to know if you'll be there."

Brandon was quiet for several moments, allowing her to absorb this. She clenched the cell phone tightly in her fist and thought about it. Finally, she answered steadily. "No," she said.

Brandon frowned on the other line. Finally, he nodded, even though she couldn't hear it. "All right," he said. "Can you tell my parents that I'll be back late?" Even after she was adopted by Yuffie's father, they'd agreed that she would stay over weekends and most weekdays.

"Sure," she said and waited for him to hang up before she did.

**Brandon's POV**

Garret was pacing in front of him, covered in ammo and guns. He was definitely ready for the cemetery. Jessie even scrounged up a couple of grenades for him to put on his belt.

Vincent was polishing his pistol on his couch in the corner of the room. They were back at HQ and just waiting for Yuffie to pull herself together in time for the cemetery. She finally came in, her magnum loaded. There was fire in her teary red eyes and a set look about her tearstained face. It was time for vengeance.

"It's eight thirty," Tiffany said. "It will only take ten minutes to get there. What do we do while we wait?"

"Practice our aim," Garret said, aiming at a vase on the table all the way on the other side of the room. His bullet hit the very center of it and it shattered into many pieces.

Wedge sighed. "I'm the one who cleans up this place," he said. "Do you mind not filling the vases and walls with bullets?"

"Shaddup," Garret said. "Let's get going- _now_."

(later)

At Garret's suggestion, they'd split into groups. Seth had decided to go off on his own. Brandon didn't trust him but let him go. It was Vincent and Tiffany, at her request, Garret and Jessie, Wedge and Biggs, and Brandon and Yuffie. Garret had said off to the side, "You're the coldest fucker I've ever met. Cool her down, and keep her in line, spiky." Brandon sighed as he walked through the cemetery with her. Garret didn't have room to talk about temper.

"Brandon," Yuffie said, grabbing his elbow and pointing down at the ground. He looked and saw footprints in the mud.

"Be careful," Brandon said, lifting his gun to shoulder level. "It could be him out there."

Yuffie rushed forward, leaving Brandon to try and catch up. He had to jump over tombstones and catch himself before he tripped over roots and stones that seemed to be there only to spite him.

Brandon nearly ran into Yuffie when she suddenly stopped. There was only a crescent moon so he couldn't see what had caused her to stop in the dark. Suddenly, he caught sight of moonlight glinting off metal. There was the sound of a gun being cocked.

"Stay where you are," said a cold voice.

**Garret's POV **(Hehe…can't wait, can you?)

Garret pointed his gun at anything that moved of made a sound. That included Jessie, several times.

"As soon as I find that son of a bitch, I'm gonna blow his fucking head off," Garret said, holding his finger on the trigger. The tombstones and bare, black trees were a depressing sight, but he was getting fired up.

"Did you hear that?" Jessie asked, stopping. Garret immediately whirled around and peered into the darkness, his head tilted.

There was a series of clicks from all around them. Shadowy figures rose from behind tombstones directly in front of them and aimed guns at them. There were at least five. Garret heard a gunshot go off and ducked, but it wasn't one aimed at them. It was in the distance.

"Toss your guns on the ground and put your hands in the air," one of the figures said.

Garret clenched his gun tightly and began to slowly kneel down. Instead, he tackled Jessie behind a tombstone and threw a grenade. There were two screams after the resulting explosion, but anything else was cut off by the barrage of gunfire.

**Tiffany's POV**

They were being chased through the cemetery by men with guns. Tiffany had no idea what was going on. Did Sephiroth really have this many people working for him?

Vincent suddenly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her behind a tree. She waited, breathing sharply and heavily from exertion and fear. The men ran right past their tree. She sighed softly and leaned back. Vincent still had her securely, she noticed, and his red eyes searched the night carefully.

"I'm going out," Vincent said, putting a new cartridge in his gun and releasing her.

"I'm going with you, then," she said. "We have to find the others."

They heard footsteps coming toward them. Tiffany and Vincent aimed their guns in the dark at whoever it was. They lowered their guns when they saw it was just Wedge and Biggs.

"Brandon and Yuffie are in trouble," Wedge said.

"Let's go," Tiffany said.

**Brandon's POV**

Brandon huddled behind a large monument, covering the bloody bullet wound in his arm. Yuffie peeked over the side of the monument, shooting just enough to keep the guy and his three reinforcements back.

"That's definitely not Sephiroth or one of the Turks," said Yuffie. "What's going on?"

"It was a trap," Brandon said, "just like I said. Seth set us up."

"But who would want to kill us?" Yuffie said. She'd been hiding with Brandon for several minutes, and the twin explosions and all the gunshots were starting to get to her. "It doesn't make sense."

"The man shooting at us is Hojo. He worked on FF7, just like Seth. Remember, Hojo and Shinra own SOLDIER and AVALANCHE and SOLDIER are against each other. They're probably using Sephiroth to get to us," he said.

"We're part of AVALANCHE now," Yuffie realized. She suddenly cried out when a bullet hit her hand. Her Magnum fell to the ground as she placed her back to the monument and cradled her bloody fingers to her stomach.

Brandon sucked in a deep breath and picked up his gun in both hands, despite the intense pain of his arm. He began to shoot around the monument.

"Why don't the police come?" Yuffie demanded, feeling hopeless. She picked up her Magnum in her uninjured hand and began to shoot. Brandon could see one of the four people go down before a bullet coming too close to his face made him jerk it back behind cover.

"The cemetery is far away from civilization, and it's late," Brandon said, already resigned to his fate. A bullet came from somewhere off to the left and skimmed his cheek. He fire rapidly in the direction of the sneak and quickly took him out where he stood.

"This way!" Garret shouted, throwing another grenade. It missed them, but the smoke rose up, blocking their view. It was then that they made their escape.

"Go, go, go," Garret commanded, letting the pass him and run to the car just outside the cemetery. He fired twice before Tiffany shoved him into the van and jumped in after him. Wedge flew down the road with a speed even Laura wouldn't match.

"Well, it's safe to say that was a huge mistake," Jessie said.

"We have to be more careful in the future," Tiffany said. "Now we have SOLDIER, the Turks, Hojo, and Sephiroth after us."

Brandon sat in a corner of the van in the back, holding his bloody arm close to himself. Jessie, who had been forced into the back by Garret, made him hold out his arm and began to treat it. He hissed when she pulled the bullet from his arm. Tiffany's hand crushed in his helped him keep from crying out in pain.

"I'll call Laura and tell her to look out," Brandon said, pulling out his cell phone as Jessie bandaged his arm.

**Laura's POV**

Her phone began to ring, but she wasn't in the mood to talk. Her mother was dying, and she'd just been kicked out of the hospital because she wouldn't leave her mother's side.

Laura was just about to get into her jeep when she heard someone come up behind her. Her hand immediately went to her gun, but the person grabbed her before she could turn completely around, trapping the gun between them. She looked into the cold eyes of a very familiar madman.

"Seph-" she tried to get out. He placed a strip of cloth over her mouth and nose, and she went limp in his arms. Her phone stopped ringing.

_A/N: Well, she got kidnapped. Uh huh. I'm so proud of all my reviews. Thanks all around. I'm so happy. Please review like you did last time and please give me suggestions for my Squffie. _


	15. Laura Got Kidnapped AGAIN?

_A/N: I am so sorry for the wait, guys. I got a job as a babysitter and that distracted me. Also, I would've posted it early if not for my computer screwing up. Excuses, excuses…_

**Angelicxox**: Definitely can't let him do that. I'll let my muse know that. lol. I got the Chinese symbol of inspiration tattooed into my hand so it should help (I used henna for temporary markings). And feel free to voice your opinion. I do. Course, I'm gonna wait till my next story until I make a Squffie.

**Li the Twilight Knight**: I'll go ahead and put him in somewhere. And I know Reeve wouldn't, but I've altered the characters ever so slightly. I know it sucks, but it goes along with the faint outline I have planned. And, yeah, it was revenge.

**bdsproductions**: Yeah, her life sucks…but it does in the game, too, with her mother dying and her getting kidnapped and all…Ah well.

**scarlettHuntress**: I'm glad you like it! They are pretty heartless…I'll fix that, maybe.

**Beeria**: O.O I'll keep that in mind, then.

**RoxasXNamine**: Yeah, cemeteries are creepy. I thought it was the perfect place for them to meet Hojo. And you'll see about Laura. Hehehe…

**Ghost in the Mirror**: I'll do my best!

**Princess of the Knight**: Oooh, which one? I'm glad I'm an inspiration, and I love it when people love my work! Thanks for an awesome review!

**Raitokage**: Don't like Squall, eh? Hmmm…well, it is kinda the sequel…in a Kingdom Hearts sort of way.

**chiharu-tanaka**: Thanks for the suggestion and for the comment. I'll definitely do my best to keep it up. Crap…I took forever with this one.

**Chapter Fifteen**

"What?" Brandon shouted into the phone. He immediately had everyone's attention. That included Garret, Tiffany, Jessie, and Vincent. Normally, he didn't raise his voice.

"She never came home," Yuffie repeated. "She's not with you?"

"No, she's not," Brandon said quietly. His gaze sifted to the clock. It was well past ten. Where could she be so late? He clearly remembered the time Laura had gotten so drunk and forced him to ride her home on his bicycle. They crashed several times before they made it back, and Laura wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Hell, it wasn't really her fault she got drunk in the first place.

"That's not good," Tiffany whispered. "What if Seph-"

Garret growled deep in his throat once Brandon hung up. He grabbed a gun and stood, ignoring Jessie's attempt to stop him. "I'm gonna find her, and you can't stop me," he said.

"I'm coming, too," Brandon said as Garret made for the door. He got to his feet, wincing at the pain in his arm. He hung up the phone. "Yuffie said she was going to look for her around her house."

Tiffany jumped when her phone rang. She looked at the number. It was private. Brandon found himself watching her for some reason. The call felt important. They three-wayed it and he listened in as she answered.

"Hello? Tiffany here," she said.

A very familiar voice answered. "Tiffany. It's been too long," Sephiroth said in his deep voice. "Let's meet at the mansion. Don't tell the police. I'll know if you do, but you can bring your AVALANCHE friends along, too."

Tiffany hung up and looked at Brandon. He hung up his phone quickly.

"What?" Garret demanded. "Who was it?"

"Sephiroth," Brandon said. "He said to meet him at the mansion."

"What the hell are we waitin' for?" Garret said. "Get your asses up and into the van!"

**Laura's POV**

Laura woke up in a dark and cold place. She opened her eyes slightly, remembering full well who had taken her captive. She kept her breathing level somehow and looked around without moving her head. It was pitch black.

A sudden light to her right lit up the bars of a cell. She quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Boots walked right to her cell. She peered up in the dark at Sephiroth's face. He grabbed one of the chains that attached to the cuffs around her wrists and yanked her up very painfully to her feet. She gasped when he grabbed her throat. "They'll be coming soon," he told her before shoving her back down to the ground. "You're just the bait. I'll get rid of you once you draw them in…"

Laura watched him slam the cell door shut and leave before she started yanking on the chains. They went right into the wall. She sighed and looked into the dark, pulling her knees close to her chest.

**Brandon's POV**

Everyone met up at the mansion and entered as quickly as possible, armed and hopefully dangerous. If anyone saw Sephiroth, they wouldn't hesitate to fill him with bullets, with good reason.

"Brandon," Vincent said. "Come with me. Only you."

Brandon glanced at the others momentarily before following Vincent through a door and into a hall he'd never seen. At the end of it were stairs. The others split up and went off in other directions.

"I know where I'm going."

Brandon didn't hesitate to nod. He followed Vincent through a series of doors, the hand holding his gun shaking from anger and, yes, fear. He was more afraid of what he might do, what he might be punished with if he did what he wanted to so badly.

After what seemed like hours but was probably only ten minutes, they came into a big room. What Brandon saw made him rush in. Laura was chained to the wall above a huge door. The room had pews and a podium and looked exactly like the church Laura had prayed in.

Before he could open his mouth to shout the name of the unconscious girl he was trying to save, he heard a loud crash behind him. He turned and saw the bars had fallen from the entrance to the room behind him, blocking him from Vincent.

**Garret's POV**

Garret had been suspicious when Vincent wanted Brandon alone, but he hadn't butted in. He was thinking about more important things. Even Yuffie was quiet and brooding. It was almost twenty minutes before she said something.

"I hear voices," said midget whispered. She raised a finger to silence Jessie and him before sneaking up the hall and putting her ear to a door further up.

Garret crossed his arms impatiently and muttered, "She thinks she's a ninja." Even Jessie shushed him. He bristled but held his tongue.

Yuffie snuck back, wide-eyed. Garret had to admit, just to himself, that she hadn't made a sound, even on the creaky old floorboards. "Vincent and Sephiroth!" she said, her voice muted but obviously excited. She held up her Magnum, a fierce look in her stormy gray eyes.

Garret nodded. He saw that the hall branched to the right just after the door. "Check if there's another entrance to the room," he told Yuffie. "If not, hurry back. If so, bust in and start shooting." She nodded and rushed off. He and Jessie took that door. They waited a couple of minutes. Finally, they heard two shots go off. Garret kicked in their door and immediately shot at Sephiroth.

Yuffie's gun shot him twice in the chest, but he must've been wearing Kevlar because there was no blood. He shot her down with his rifle, which was blasted out of his hand by Garret. Quick firing from Jessie forced him out of the room. Of course, he hadn't seemed like he'd wanted to stay anyways.

Garret immediately went to Yuffie and Jessie went to Vincent, who happened to be chained to a chair in the center of the room. He was badly bruised in the face and on his chest where his shirt had been torn and looked as if he'd been stabbed in the arm. He wasn't wearing the trench coat he never took off either.

"Where's Brandon?" Jessie asked once she'd gotten Vincent off the chair and helped get a bleeding Yuffie onto it.

"I've been here since Reno was found," Vincent said.

"Then who the hell has been paradin' around as you?" Garret demanded, leaving Jessie to examine the bullet wound in Yuffie's thigh.

Vincent looked up, a frown on his face. "I haven't heard anything about it."

"We have to warn Brandon," Yuffie said, trying to get up. Jessie forced her down.

"Vincent, come with me," Garret said, ready to take the place as leader. "Jessie, get Yuffie to the headquarters."

Jessie nodded and handed over the bag of explosives she made for this occasion. Garret put on the bag and smirked. They were going to blow that bastard up for all he'd done.

Even though Yuffie complained, she was in no shape to argue. Vincent took Jessie's gun and nodded to Garret. They ran off after Brandon and the imposter.

**Brandon's POV**

Vincent didn't look so much like Vincent at the moment. He removed the sunglasses and the weird trench coat he always wore to reveal who he really was: Tseng. As soon as he was recognized, he put the sunglasses back on.

"Where's Vincent?" Brandon demanded, his voice echoing in the room. He looked around for some clue, but there was none. Just stained glass windows that allowed no light into the room and the huge cross Laura was chained to. The door under her opened.

"You're more foolish than I thought," Sephiroth said upon entering.

Brandon immediately raised his gun. A single motion from Sephiroth stopped him. He held a remote up, his finger hovering above the button. That was never good.

"This remote will send a shock through Aeris that could potentially kill her. You don't want that," he said.

"You brought me here to slaughter me?" Brandon demanded. "Let her go!"

"I'm afraid I can't," Sephiroth said. "She's a player. You all must die."

"You're sick," Brandon spat. Sephiroth merely shrugged.

"Drop your weapon and look under the seat to your left. There's a lock on those chains. If you can find it…I will free her and allow her to leave- for today. You must stay, however. There's a time limit, of course," he said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Brandon didn't have time to argue. Tseng was nowhere to be seen, luckily. Of course, he didn't know what that time limit was. He soon realized what it was when Laura was jolted awake. She screamed at the pain, and Brandon didn't blame her.

He pulled a sheet of paper out from under the pew and read it quickly. He was expecting a riddle, but that wasn't what it was at all. It was directions. "Hold on, Laura," he said to her. The shock stopped. She raised her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"He said there are seven shocks, one for every game," Laura said, her voice quivering. "Each is worse than the last. Please hurry."

Brandon nodded. There was no time for the words he wanted to say. She smiled at the look in his eyes; it was a small smile, but it encouraged and understood him. He ran out of the door under her. Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen. He ran down the hall. Surely he'd make it in time-

A huge explosion cut off his train of thought. It came from down the hall. He paused only for quick second before continuing. Another explosion from right behind him nearly knocked him off his feet. He caught his balance quickly, hissing in pain, and ran to the door. Right before his eyes, the door exploded, sending pieces of wood flying everywhere. He flew backwards and hit the wall.

That stopped him. He lay in pain for several moments before finally forcing himself up and through the hole in the door. Seconds after, the spot he had fallen on was blasted to pieces. He kept moving at a slightly slowed pace.

The room he ended up in was exactly like the directions said: completely and totally white. It was almost blindingly so. He looked at the directions and up at the long room. It was almost fifty feet long in length, twenty in width. He started walking and suddenly tripped. Rubbing his hurt knees, he grabbed what had tripped him: a white wire.

The ground suddenly shook. He got to his feet quickly, somehow keeping his balance. It wasn't easy at all. He took some steps forward which quickened when he realized exactly what the trap was. Spikes tore out of the wall right behind him. The wall suddenly pushed forward, picking up speed as it went. The door he had left open snapped off its hinges and was crushed under.

Brandon went into a jerky run for the door at the far end of the room, knocking over chairs and tables on the way in hopes of slowing the thing down. The wood was flattened.

Brandon suddenly tripped and fell hard. He was almost there. The wall came tearing after him. He leapt for the door, pulled himself up with the knob, and yanked it open. He was about to jump in when he was suddenly hit and slammed into the room. Pain went through his entire body, pinpointed at his shoulder. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he got to his feet and reached his hand back.

When he brought his hand back, the fingertips covered in blood, he swallowed and shook his head, pale. With another steadying breath, he took another step forward, pulling out the now-crumpled sheet of directions, reminding himself why he was doing this.

**Vincent's POV**

Garret reached the bars blocking the way to the church room. He heard a scream and saw Laura hanging from the cross by the chains. Without hesitation, he placed a bomb on the bars and trailed the string back around a wall.

Vincent got behind it as well and lit the string. It sparked and trailed around, straight for the bomb. There was a huge explosion. They had heard several explosions on the way and feared the worst so Garret ran into the room quickly, jumping over the charred bars. Vincent stopped before doing the same, picking up a charred and tattered piece of leather. His eyes widened.

"Garret!" Vincent said just before a loud gunshot went off. He hit the ground, blood pooling up under him. Garret hid between the pews, shooting at the figure further down the hall. The person hid in a room, allowing Garret the time to pull Vincent behind cover.

Laura lifted her head after the shock and looked at them, surprised and glad to see them. "Garret, Brandon ran up ahead," she said as he fired upon the person who they could see was Tseng. "I only have about fifteen minutes left. He ran off about thirty minutes ago." She was very obviously in pain.

Despite the wound in his shoulder, Vincent made it over to Laura thanks to Garret's cover. He reached for the lock, but she quickly stopped him. "No, don't! If it's broken or picked, the shock generated from it will kill me. Only the lock can open it safely." Now what she mentioned it, the lock was awfully big and strange-looking. "I'm scared for Brandon. As soon as he left to find the key, I heard explosions."

"Vincent, get over here!" Garret said. He quickly ran to his side. "Take over here. I'm goin' after him."

Nodding, Vincent pulled out his gun and watched for Tseng. Garret got up, loaded his gun, and ran off through the door both Sephiroth and Brandon had gone through minutes ago.

_A/N: A little bit of friendly advertising. __http/ My story is going to be put on it. I hope you guys check it out. If the link doesn't show up, ignore it. _


	16. We're Friends, Right?

_AN: I'm disappointed with my own story, not a good thing. I didn't stop to think about you guys. My characters are definitely OOC. They don't even act like themselves. Ugh…how disappointing…My story's coming to a close, by the way. Brace yourself!_

**Angelicxox**: Yeah, he sure did get his ass kicked. I was grasping, and I thought, "Hey, why not Tseng?" Glad you liked it. I will definitely try to update faster in the future. And the happy ending…well, there might be _two_ endings that I'll make.

**Bdsproductions**: Finally! I no longer have the temptation to label you anon. Anyways, thanks!

**Beeria**: I live for the excitement and suspense. I dunno yet but maybe things will get a little heated.

**RoxasXNamine**: Did you say you want them to die? O.o Well, you'll see.

**Princess of the Knight**: Aw, poor you. I haven't had much chance to write either.

**Li the Twilight Knight**: He didn't get captured very long ago. I didn't leave any hints. Surprise!

**Chapter 16**

Brandon wasn't about to lie to himself. He was hurt and scared. Blood streamed down his side from the bullet Sephiroth fired at him and from the trap he'd set off. The overturned table was the only thing shielding him from Sephiroth. Elena stood by, ready to shoot if need be but leaving it up to her employer.

"Come on out, Cloud," Sephiroth said. "You don't want to leave Aeris to her death."

Brandon clenched his eyes shut. He was trapped. If he didn't…But he couldn't! Taking a deep breath, he launched himself from behind the table, shooting as many times as he could at Sephiroth. The tall madman wasn't caught unaware, however. Brandon felt a bullet rip through his leg before he hit the ground behind a desk. He cried out in pain and pulled his leg close to himself.

Sephiroth, however, was choking up blood. He had a mad gleam in his eye as he wiped away the offending red liquid. With a glance at Elena, he said, "Kill him," and left the room.

With a determined look on his pale face, Brandon wrapped his arm around and shot down the hall at Elena. He nearly dropped his gun in surprise, however, when Garret burst into the room. Having heard the fire from down the hall, he was immediately in action, shooting Elena down and continuing the fire so that she had to hide behind cover.

"Go," Garret ordered. "Get your ass off the floor and move it."

Brandon didn't need to be told twice. Using the desk to brace himself, he pulled himself up on one foot and made his way slowly towards the door Sephiroth had gone through. Garret was several feet away. Elena, in the center of the room and off to the side, attempted to shoot Brandon down, but her bullets missed and Garret's immediately blasted the gun out of her hand, making it slid across the floor.

Using this without hesitation, Brandon hobbled to the door and stumbled through to the next room. That was where the key was. He saw it on a table at the far side of the room. All his wounds were making it hard to stay conscious, but he was almost there. This torment was probably nothing to what Laura was going through.

Brandon reached the table and stretched out a hand to grab the small, metal key. His fingers got closer and closer as the world around him began to spin. His fingers closed around the key.

And his world turned black.

**Laura's POV**

Laura woke up in the cell once again. She curled herself in a tight ball, wondering why that last shock never came. Brandon didn't come in time, and both Garret and Vincent had been thrown in the cells at either side of her right before she fell asleep.

Finally, Laura sat up and looked about. To her surprise, there was another figure lying on the ground beside her. She crawled over to the person and turned him over to find it was a heavily bandaged Brandon.

"Brandon?" she asked, shaking him a bit. The boy in question groaned and opened his eyes to slits. When he saw who it was, he tried to sit up, but she easily pushed the weakened fighter back down.

"Laura, you're okay? But…why?" he asked, relieved and confused at the same time.

"I don't know. Tseng took me here after he took out Vincent."

Brandon's eyes opened more so that he could see her better in the darkness. The only light in their cell was a small light bulb far above their heads. "Vincent? Where is he?"

"He's in the cell to our right. Garret's to the left," Laura said.

"Where's Yuffie? And Jessie?" Brand asked. They hadn't allowed a scared yet determined Tiffany come along. She was lucky.

"They left before all this shit," Garret answered through the thin wall that separated them.

"So we still have a chance of escaping," Brandon said thoughtfully. "By the looks of things…Sephiroth wants one last fight from me before he kills us all. I'll stall."

Brandon pulled out his cell phone and was surprised Sephiroth didn't take it. He winced and put it to his ear. It was ringing.

"Brandon?" came Yuffie's relieved greeting. "Where are you guys?"

"I'm not sure," Brandon said, blushing slightly despite it all because Laura had placed her ear close to the phone. She was so close, he could catch her scent: roses.

"I know," Laura said. "I was awake when he took us down here." She held her hand out for the phone, withdrawing from him.

Brandon told Yuffie and handed the phone over. Once Laura was done describing their position and getting into chatting with her new sister, he crawled over to the left wall, the one that separated Vincent from them. "Vincent?" he called.

There was no answer.

"Vincent, are you okay?"

Still no answer. He frowned and gave up.

Brandon moved away from the wall and retrieved his phone. Laura looked like she was in a much better mood.

"Jessie, Yuffie, and Tiffany are on their way," Laura informed him.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked. "My wounds are partially healed."

"I don't know," Laura said. "We've all been hurt pretty bad. We could've slept for a long time. I didn't ask Yuffie. From the way she talked, it must've been a long time."

Brandon managed to stand up. He took a deep breath and walked towards the bars at the front of their cell. The only thing he saw was darkness.

A rectangle of light suddenly appeared in his vision. He narrowed his eyes, peering up slightly at it. A figure blocked out some of the light and began walking down some stairs. Brandon backed away from the bars and looked at Laura. "Sephiroth," he mouthed. There was no way the tall madman hadn't seen him standing in the cell.

"Cloud," Sephiroth said once he had reached the cell. "You're looking better."

Brandon didn't reply. He glared into the cold eyes of their captor.

Sephiroth suddenly pushed a key into the cell's lock and opened the door. "You're free to go," he said, smirking. "Of course, you must leave your friends behind."

"No," Brandon said. Sephiroth looked pleased. "I won't leave my friends here."

"Then you will fight for freedom," Sephiroth said, moving to allow him out. Brandon didn't hesitate to walk out the cell, not wanted to show weakness to this crazy killer. He didn't jump when Sephiroth slammed the squeaking cell door behind him.

When Brand turned to face Sephiroth, he was gone. He stared at the empty space for a moment before he locked eyes with Laura. She walked over to the bars and held out her hand. He grabbed it in his.

"Run," she told him quietly. He stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. Laura easily stuck her head out through the bars. It, of course, wouldn't allow her shoulders to pass through. Horizontal bars kept her from getting out sideways. "You have to. You're hurt…" She trailed off, looking over his bandages.

"So is he," Brandon argued. He wasn't stupid; he knew his chances as well as Laura. He didn't want her worried. Ever since he met her…he felt…awkward and changed. He didn't want that to go away. Seeking comfort, he unconsciously reached out his other hand and touched her cheek. Her emerald eyes widened slightly at the forward motion, but she leaned against his fingers. He stroked her once before withdrawing. "I'll be back for you." That was a promise he intended to keep.

Laura watched him walk away with a sad expression in her eyes. It turned to surprise when a familiar figure came through a door out of her vision and walked before her cell.

"Tseng!"

**Brandon's POV**

It had been fifteen minutes since he left Laura. He'd finally found some stairs that led up to the first floor, according to Laura. Brandon stumbled down the halls, looking left and right for Sephiroth or a weapon. He was hurting, but he could stand a chance if he found a stray…gun. Who was he kidding?

He came up to a window and looked out. It was dark outside, and the clouds were flashing. A storm. Great. It matched his mood. Thinking about Laura's words, he raised a fist and looked at the window curiously. Wrapping a tattered piece of his shirt around his fist and tying it securely, he punched the window. The glass shattered, raining down on the ground below. The window was too small to fit his body through, but that wasn't what he was looking for. He broke a long fragment off glass off and held it like a knife. Maybe he could cut Sephiroth with it.

Brandon felt like throwing up. Maybe that was how he'd get Sephiroth. Barf on him and then slit his throat with the piece of glass. How original. He was so doomed.

Depressed, Brandon continued his shuffle down the hall. A strange sound caught his attention. It was the sound of something scraping against something else. Brandon wouldn't have heard it if he wasn't so nervous. He cautiously walked towards the sound and came to a door right around a corner. Yes, the sound was louder there. He opened the door carefully, glass held tightly in his hand.

A man was tied to the far wall, his long, spiky hair matted with blood as he cut at the ropes that bound him a foot above the ground and to the wall. He was using a small razor that must've been hidden in his wristbands. His clothes were bloody and tattered, showing signs of abuse. Brandon quickly went to his aide, realizing that the man was very obviously there against his will and any help was good help. He grabbed up the razor and cut the ropes.

"Thanks," the man said cheerfully, rubbing his wrists when he was safely on the ground. "I thought I was a goner…"

"Why are you here?" Brandon asked, realizing the guy was almost in as bad a shape as he was.

"With a secret service on a mission," the man said. Brandon wondered how he could remain so happy when he was trapped in a mansion. "Someone has gotta take Sephiroth out."

"What took so long?" Brandon demanded.

"Well, it was hard to track him down. He doesn't stay in one place for long," he explained. Then he suddenly held out his hand. "I'm Zack. Nice to meet you."

"Brandon," he replied, ignoring his outstretched hand. Zack merely shrugged and withdrew it, shoving it in his pocket. ((Mind you, I don't know much about Zack. I just thought I'd put in a missing link.))

"Why are you here?"

"Finishing this," Brandon said, arms crossed. "Sephiroth has been trying to kill us for a while. He called us out."

"A common goal, huh? All right, let's do this together. No sense in doing it alone, right?"

Brandon merely shrugged and walked out of the room. Zack's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Zack reached in his boot and produced a small knife. Brandon took it. For himself, Zack reached up his pant to grab a bowie knife strapped to his calf. He smirked. "Might was well be armed."

They started off down the hall, listening for any sign of Sephiroth's presence. A loud creak made both freeze.

Zack opened his mouth to say something, but Brandon quickly shushed him. He inched down the hall, his back to the wall. He peeked around a corner and stared at the scene unfolding before him, his piercing, artificially glowing eyes unblinking.

Elena was arguing with someone. It was…Hojo! Brandon's eyes widened slightly.

"We can't do it yet," Elena said. "Tseng disappeared, and Reno and rude are gone. Sephiroth is too strong-"

"Do as I command you. Steven is a threat to SOLDIER. You were planted for a reason, Elena. Do your job. Now is the time. He's wounded."

Elena dropped her head. She was a loyal girl, Brandon had to admit. Zack suddenly stepped out from behind the corner. Brandon grabbed for him, but his fingers closed on air.

"Forget about me, Elena?" Zack asked, grinning. Elena looked at him with an strange expression.

"You're alive?" she said, surprised.

"That's no way to greet a teammate," Zack said, seemingly hurt. He smiled, however. "Sephiroth has some prisoners. You know them, right? The AVALANCHE people? I say we reform our alliance."

Hojo seemed to consider this. He finally nodded. "Sephiroth is bound to have some of his followers hidden around the mansion. They could be decent pawns…"

"My friend knows the way," Zack said, turning around. "It's okay, Brandon. We're friends…right?"

Brandon stepped out without a word. Elena narrowed her eyes at him but remained silent.

"Take us to them."

**Yuffie's POV**

She raced down the stairs to the cells and cried out when she slammed into Tseng and fell backwards. She pulled out her gun and attempted to get up. Wedge, Jessie, Tiffany and Biggs prepared for a fight behind her.

Tseng took off his sunglasses and peered at her with…red eyes. Yuffie gaped at him, surprised. Vincent stood there in suit and tie, regarding her silently. Behind him were Laura and Barret, who both dragged a bound and dazed Tseng in a Vincent costume behind them.

"_What_?" she demanded, terribly confused. She looked at them, lost.

"No time to explain," Vincent said, putting the glasses back on and smoothing back his hair to look more like Tseng.

Yuffie got to her feet and brushed dirt off her short shorts. She cocked her gun and turned back around energetically, nearly bounding up the stairs.

"Brandon is up ahead. It took Vincent a while to get the locks open, but I'm sure he hasn't gotten far," Laura informed her as they ran. They walked through the halls as quickly as possible.

Yuffie was in the lead, chatting away with a quiet Vincent about how Jessie almost wrecked the van on the way there. They'd been walking for a while, and everyone seemed annoyed by her chatter. They were trying to go for a surprise attack.

Garret scowled. "Girls shouldn't drive," he said.

Yuffie kicked him while he was ducking under Tiffany' swing. She was so distracted that she very nearly ran into a tall, unfamiliar man. Cursing, she raised her gun. The man merely grinned at her.

"Where's Sephiroth?" Tiffany demanded, pulling out her own gun and aiming at Elena, who stood behind the man and beside Hojo.

"We'd like to know the same thing," the man said, holding up his hands. "Your friend Brandon convinced them to help me free you guys, but he disappeared before we could come here. Imagine our surprise to find you alive…and out of your cells, too!"

"Stop lyin'!" Garret said, shoving his big shotgun in his face, supplied by Jessie.

"If we meant you harm, you would be dead," Hojo cut in. "If you continue to threaten us, we will finish where Steven started.

Laura stepped forward, looking as if she didn't believe her eyes. "Zack?" she asked eyes wide. Zack stared at her, mouth slightly agape. Garret lowered his gun slowly.

"Laura!" he said, grabbing her hands. "I- What are you doing here?"

Laura looked as if she was going to explain the whole thing, but she gathered her senses back and shook her head. "No time for that now," she said. "We have to go after Brandon."

"He went up some stairs," Zack said, regaining himself as well. "Let's go!"

**Brandon's POV**

Panting, Brandon reached the top of the stairs. He leaned against a wall, eyes clenched shut against the pain. His eyes shot open, however, when he heard a clatter of metal on wood before him. A sword very similar to the one he wielded in FF7 landed right before him. Sephiroth stood a couple of feet away, a smirk on his face. He withdrew into a room.

Brandon crept forward towards the sword and picked it up, expecting it to be heavy. To his surprise, it was extremely light. He could wield it with one hand if he had to. Instead, he dropped the knife. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the slightly opened door and kicked it so he could get through. To his surprise, it led outside. Stairs went down into the darkness. A blue light lit up the area at the foot of the stairs.

A tall platform rose above him as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He began climbing up the stairs that led to the platform. I began to rain. Great. Brandon sighed and was about to move on anyways when the memory of a dream stopped him in his tracks.

_Cloud walked down a long trail. He'd been walking for what seemed like forever, in the dark. It had been so cold. He looked up and his gaze rested on a shining figure. It was on its knees atop a tall platform and it was beautiful._

_He began to run with energy he'd lost so long ago. He ran up the steps to her and felt the warmth and basked in the radiance that became stronger the closer he got. Finally, atop the platform, he saw the shining figure close up._

_Aeris Gainsborough held her hands clasped before her, eyes closed. She was praying._

_A small, tranquil smile was on her face. When she heard his footsteps approaching, she opened her beautiful green eyes and looked at him, smile widening ever so slightly._

_He took a step forward but stopped when a shadow fell upon her light. She didn't seem to notice. Cloud looked up and saw what the shadow was._

_Sephiroth dropped from the sky, his enormous sword drawn. He fell towards Aeris and impaled her on his sword. Her beautiful eyes widened and said one last thing before her eyes closed and her light faded, gone forever. "Cloud…"_

He only remembered because he'd had that dream every night since he slept in the same bed as Laura. He took a deep breath, shook off the bad feeling creeping over him, and walked up the remaining stairs and onto the platform.

Lit eerily by the blue light, with shadows cast over his face and his long silver hair flowing nearly to the ground, Sephiroth looked like a demon. But what chilled Brandon most was the weapon in his hand. The same sword he used in the game and the same that pierced through Aeris while she knelt in prayer was clenched in the madman's hand.

"Sephiroth," he said savagely, pointing his sword at him. "I won't let you touch Aeris again."

The killer in question looked at Brandon with his piercing eyes, a touch of madness in them. Brandon noticed a faint glow in them; the same glow that lit his own eyes. With a smirk on his face, Sephiroth held his sword with both hands and charged.

_A/N: I made it long for you guys. It's midnight, so I'll finish the story later. Hope you guys like it. Sorry it took so long._


	17. Game Over

_A/N: I changed the rating to M because there's a ton of blood and death in my story. Not because there's gonna be a sex scene.  
_

**Raitokage**: Oh course I play KH. Axel redeemed himself in my eyes in the end. Anyways, that's really all I know about Zack. Have I been doing a good job with him?

**CaritasMemoria**: No worries. Neither did I, actually. I'm glad you like it.

**Angelicxox**: Yeah, Brandon's the popular kid, and Sephy's the school bully. I'll do my best not to let you down. Did I do Zack right? Like I said, I know little about the character except for that line. And, yeah, that was just something I thought would be funny. The whole barf thing.

**asga**: This'll be the last update, though. Unfortunately, the story is through.

**Beeria**: I'm glad someone noticed! And you'll see about Brandon…mwahahaha…Thank you so much for all your reviews. Sadly, this is to be my last chapter.

**Chapter 17**

Brandon glared at Sephiroth with every ounce of hatred he had. He brought up his sword and blocked Sephiroth's attack. Their blades met with a ring. With his long sword, Sephiroth launched attack after attack, forcing Brandon backwards with the volley of blows.

Sephiroth swung his sword at him harder than before, intending to cleave him in half. Brandon rolled under the assault and slashed at Sephiroth's legs. He caused only a mere tear in the black fabric when Sephiroth brought his sword down on him. The metal cut through cloth and skin. Brandon rolled back to his feet and glared at Sephiroth closely.

"Face it," the killer said, spreading out his free hand. "You're no match for me."

"We'll see about that," Brandon said, running towards him.

**Laura's POV**

Laura was extremely worried. Brandon hadn't been found yet. They looked about for several minutes. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Laura," Zack said from behind her. She turned around. "I looked for you before. Where'd you go?"

"Zack, you disappeared. When my parents said we were moving, I didn't see any reason to argue," she said. They kept the pace with the others.

"Well, there's no reason we can't start where we left off…right?" He seemed puzzled by the strange expression on her face.

"I- I don't know about that, Zack," she said quietly. "I- um, Brandon-" She trailed off and understanding came to Zack's eyes. Before he could reply, however, several gunshots from behind caused them to duck down and hide in the closest room.

"Who is it?" Tiffany asked Garret, who poked his head out for a split second before gunfire forced it back in.

"People in black. A lot of 'em." Her aimed his shotgun around the doorframe and pulled the trigger. There was a loud exclamation and then a thud. He smirked. "Looks like I've learned a bit."

"Fighting for your life does that," Vincent said, adding shots from his pistol to Garret's fire. Two more were easily taken out.

"Lemme try!" Yuffie said, trying to get around them. "_Vincent_!"

Vincent didn't move from his spot standing in the doorway. "We'll cover ya," Garret said. "Crawl over us and get to that door over there." He pointed with his shotgun then fired it once again. A scream replaced the loud bang and then there was yet another thud.

Yuffie did just that and Tiffany after her. Zack would have followed, but Garret immediately told him he was too big. Elena crawled over to find another door she could shoot from. Tseng told Garret to crouch and shot over his head instead, being a smarty.

"Tiffany, look out!" Vincent said, raising his voice so surprisingly that she ducked immediately. Two bullet holes opened up in the wood right where her head had been. Vincent turned his attention to the two down the hall, coming from the way they had been about to go, leaving Garret and Tseng to finish off the five and more that flooded into the hall.

"I have to help out," Aeris told Zack, who wasn't letting her go.

"Never mind that," Garret grunted, reloading his gun with his back to the door. "We gotta get moving. They keep poppin' up." He fired one more time before taking off towards the one remaining man in black that blocked the way they were going. In his fear, the man's shots missed, Garret tried to shoot him, but the coward was moving all about, looking for a way to escape. Once he got to him, however, he bashed him over the skull with his shotgun, jumped over the dead body of his partner, and continued his run down the hall.

Tiffany followed after him, Vincent following close behind. They all ran off until it was only Yuffie left. She cursed, wondering how they could leave the Great Yuffie behind. More people were showing up by the second, and she was soon to be overrun. None of her shots were hitting their mark.

Suddenly, there was an explosion. She covered her eyes at the blast, gasping as heat washed over her. A figure suddenly blocked out the light. He held out a gloved hand to her, lifting her off the ground and propelling her forward. The last thing she saw was long brown hair and a scar on his face before she was running again.

Panting, Yuffie caught up with the group. "Nice shootin', Yuffie," was Garret's sarcastic greeting. After Tiffany gave him a boot to the head, she and Aeris immediately apologized for leaving her behind. "That guy saved me!" she interrupted them.

"What guy?" Tiffany asked, looking back down the hall. It was blackened and aflame. "We just saw an explosion. I thought it was Jessie."

Jessie shook her head.

Yuffie turned to see that her savior was gone. The others kept moving. She followed and was about to say something when a sound caught her ear.

"Shhh." Yuffie suddenly stopped. She crept forward silently and put her ear to a door. "I hear something," she announced.

She opened the door and stared out into darkness. It was night, and they stared over at a platform raised to their level a few yards away. Two fighters, illuminated by a soft blue glow, performed a dance of death with their abnormally sized blades. One of them had slightly spiky blonde hair which was matted in the back where he'd been hit and knocked unconscious earlier.

"Go, Brandon!" Yuffie cheered from where they stood. The teen in question deflected one of Sephiroth's attacks and leapt away to glance at them. His wide eyes met Laura's worried ones.

"No! Run!" he shouted across at them, giving Sephiroth the chance he needed. His sword cut across Brandon's chest. He gasped and jumped back, quickly bringing up his sword to meet the madman's in an attempt to force him back.

Garret brought up his shotgun and aimed for Sephiroth. "That was dirty," he said, finger on the trigger.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sephiroth warned, using his free hand to pull a remote out. Laura stared at it, recognizing the red button… "One push of this button will kill her. Show them, Aeris." Laura pulled back the sleeve of her shirt to reveal a shackle on her wrist. The broken chain that hung from it was also attached to the strange lock from before. The last shock was yet to come.

Brandon slashed at Sephiroth furiously. The point of his sword cut from his right cheek across his nose and up, almost to his eyes. He knocked the sword aside with no sign of pain on his face and slashed right back. Brandon blocked it, but fatigue was getting to him. He was wounded even before the battle.

Sephiroth did something Brandon hadn't expected. He dropped the remote and reached in his shirt. Expecting the worst, Brandon attempted to slash at his arm. The sword connected, but Sephiroth merely stepped back, his own blood dripping to the ground. He pulled out a gun and aimed at Brandon, who froze. With a smirk on his face, he aimed to the left and pulled the trigger. Wide-eyed, Brandon followed the direction of the bullet with his head. It was aimed straight for Laura.

Laura flinched and closed her eyes, expecting the bullet to tear through her. Instead, there was a thud before her. She opened her green eyes and saw Zack on the ground. Confusion registered on her face. Hadn't he been behind her…?

"Sorry…about that," Zack said, clutching his stomach. There was a pained expression on his handsome face. "Wasn't…your time, I think." He smiled up at her. "Even if you…like Brandon better than me, I'll still…watch over you, okay?"

Laura knelt beside him, her hands grasping his bloody fingers and tears threatening to spill from her pretty emerald eyes. She shook her head, her braid swinging back and forth. "You're not going to die," she said with a shaking voice.

"It's okay," Zack said, the pain on his face relaxing. "I know…that I'll be…happy where I'm going…'cause I saw you one last time."

Brandon sliced the gun from Sephiroth's hand and kicked it out of the way. He thrust his blade forward but was knocked aside. "Are you angry with me, Cloud?" he asked. "Do you want to kill me?"

Brandon was on the offensive now, but all his attacks were being deflected. All he had to do was maneuver so that he could grab up the remote. Then Laura would be okay. He didn't dare look over to see how Zack was faring. His chance presented itself.

Sephiroth lashed out quickly, his sword swinging towards his waist. He dropped to the ground and rolled once again, placing himself beside the remote. He grabbed it up and stuck it down his baggy shirt, glad he had tucked it in before the fight.

A sudden sound made him looked up and attempt to rise quickly. Sephiroth charged at him once again, the point of his sword scraping on the stone floor and striking up sparks. He tore it up and across Brandon's face, returning the favor. It opened a cut from his temple to halfway up his forehead. Brandon quickly kicked away the blade and jumped up, swinging his blade.

At the same time, Sephiroth brought his sword back at him. The swords passed their targets and stopped in the air. Sephiroth smirked. Brandon dropped his sword, blood running freely down his arm.

"This is where it ends," Sephiroth announced, raising his blade again. Brandon quickly ran. Sephiroth's laugh cut through the air. "Scared?"

Brandon suddenly stopped at the steps and turned. Sephiroth's gun was in his hand. He ducked under another attack and ran around to the killer's back. Sephiroth turned and lifted his blade to charge. Brandon raised his gun and…

…dropped it. Blood made his hand slippery. He gasped and braced himself for death.

A loud bang made his eyes shoot open. Sephiroth's sword clattered to the ground. Eyes burning with anger, he took a step towards Brandon and stumbled. Holding the bullet hole in his chest where his heart should be, Sephiroth hit the ground hard.

Yuffie jumped up, waving her gun in the air. "That's for killing my boyfriend!"

Brandon walked slowly to his friends. Hojo, Tseng, and Elena were long gone. They all smiled, except Vincent, and cheered his victory, even if it was with a little help. There was a slight smile on his face as well. He climbed up the steps and approached Laura there were tears running down her face. With his clean hand, he wiped them away and embraced her.

When he pulled back, he saw a stunned expression on her face. He opened his mouth to question her, but instead let out a strangled sound. Blood darkened his shirt and spread outwards. He gave Laura a longing look…before he fell backwards down the stairs.

Sephiroth dropped his gun from the platform and fell for the last time.

"I have…finished my goal…and killed…two more players…this day. Cloud…and myself."

**Garret's POV**

He threw his virtual reality helmet to the ground and stomped on it. "Piece of junk," he mumbled. His phone rang, and he picked it up. "What?'

"Wow, you picked up your phone and it's only 2:30," the voice on the other line said.

"What do you want, Tif?" Garret asked.

"Where's Laura? Yuffie said she didn't come home again last night."

"She's probably at the park," Garret grunted. "The hippie."

"Can you drive me there? We promised to hang out more."

Garret sighed. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

Garret's old car somehow made it to Tiffany's house. She was outside waiting. When she got in the car, she said, "Laura's had a lot of funerals to go to lately. Her father's, her mother's, Reno's, Zack's, and…" She trailed off, swallowing. "I just thought she'd need someone to talk to."

The car drove down the road, took a turn, took another turn, and kept going until it made its way to the park. They got out and began to walk. There were children playing outside. It was a perfect day. A gentle wind cooled them and the sun wasn't so hot, just enough to ensure that they were warm.

"Look, there she is," Tiffany said, pointing.

Garret smirked. "She looks a little busy…"

**Laura's POV**

She smiled at the boy sitting across from her, wondering if he was going to be bold. Brandon had just gotten out of the hospital. He'd fought for his life and went up against a madman to save not his own but his friends' lives…yet he was still afraid to do anything more than hold her hand.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" she asked, leaning against the tree that shaded them. A slight breeze blew her bangs in her face. Brandon lay before her on the grass, his fingers locked behind his head.

"I had to get stitches, but my wounds are healing up fast," he told her.

"That's good," she said, smiling at him. He sat up and held out his hand to her. She took it, her smile widening slightly.

"You…like me, right?" he asked hesitantly, sitting beside her with his back to the tree as well.

"Of course," she assured him, leaning her head against his shoulder. She could see hesitance on his face.

"So are we…together?"

"You mean boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if you like me, and I like you, then I suppose we are," she said, amused. Her expression turned to surprise when he cupped her cheek with his hand and brought her face up to his, their lips meeting.

Twin wolf whistles made them break apart. Tiffany and Garret grinned at the two of them. The recent jealousy she'd felt was gone; Tiffany liked Vincent now. And she knew better than to let her feelings go unnoticed.

"Looks like things have settled down," Garret said. "To tell the truth, it's pretty damn boring. AVALANCHE and SOLDIER aren't fightin', and Sephiroth was buried. We all saw to that."

"Do you want him to be back?" Laura asked, a smile replacing her embarrassment.

"Not after all that bastard did to us. I just wish I got the last shot."

"But you didn't," Yuffie said in a singsong voice, approaching behind them. Vincent, no longer wearing sunglasses, walked behind her. His name had been cleared. Seth Cait strolled behind them, looking cheerful. They'd forgiven him for before, thanks to Laura.

"Looks like the gang's all here," Tiffany said, looking about.

"We're the team that kicked Sephiroth's ass," Garret announced. "Ain't nothin' gonna separate us."

_A/N: Well, that's it. Yes, I know, sucky ending. I just wanted to end it with Barret getting the last word, as usual. Hope you guys liked it. That's the end of my story. Time to start a new one. Hey, guys, please review. After all, it's the last chapter. But I'm not complaining. I got over 100 reviews! Wahoo! That's 94 more than I've ever received from my others, which were, admittedly, OC stories. I didn't even expect 10, really, and yet you guys got me twice as much. I'm extremely grateful and glad that my story ended on that foot.  
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